Untitled Notepad
by Courtnylovesramen
Summary: When Kairi and Yuffie's lives intertwine, what will the effect be a good one? Shojou-ai Content.
1. First Comment

UNTITLED-NOTEPAD

-Heya...it's me. I bet you're wondering about the title name...it'll make sense later on. Well, hopefully it will. I finally have my own computer so I can just type my stories out instead of having to write them and then bribe people into typing them for me. About the story...hm. im not even sure what kind of story it'll be. the only things I have worked out right now is that it'll be a shoujo-ai(if you don't know what this means ask someone-other than me, that is), and Kingdom Hearts. Not much else. Oh, and don't email me telling me about my crappy typing grammar in my a/n's. And that's just how it goes. So. If you want to know what the symbols mean, look at my other stories cause I don't feel like typing them out right now. Anywho...hm. nothing much to talk about (that's relevant to the story anyways, if you want to talk to me look me up on greatestjournal, so lets get on with it.

* * *

Ch.1: First Comment 

"Kairi...hey Kairi..." Kairi looked up from her laptop and noticed her attacker. "Honestly, Kai, you spend too much time on that thing!"

It was Sora.

"Oh...I didn't notice..."

"Didn't notice? Every time the teachers let us have a break you whip that thing out and type away like crazy," he said with a mocking smile on his face. Usually this charmed Kairi, but she just wasn't in the mood that day. Or the day before that or the week before, in fact.

Kairi closed her laptop, frowning. So what if she spent so much time on it? That's what it was for, right? 'Ugh. What am I getting so defensive about...?'

"Hey, Riku wanted to know if you wanted to come with us to the movies today."

"..."

"Kairi...?"

"Sora, you know I can't go on such short notice..." If it were up to her, sure she would go, but she was one of the unfortunate teenagers with over reactive parents who wouldn't let her do hardly anything, which was why she spent half her life on the computer nowadays.

Sora sighed and hung his head. "Sure, whatever. Call me later then." He got up out of his (actually, it belonged to whoever sat in front of her) seat and crossed the room over to where Riku was talking to Wakka and Tidus about...something. Kairi wanted to go over there and talk with them, but...

Clutching her laptop to her, she gazed over at Riku and Sora. She'd been pretty close friends with them both for all her life, so that made her wonder why they weren't telling her.

Being the only girl in a group of boys, she could understand them doing some things without her and keeping the occasional secret (boys will be boys), but lately it had been getting worse. They would go over to each other's houses and not tell her, and plan trips and not tell her... She knew why, of course; she'd have to be completely dense not to. The fact that they were dating wasn't what was bothering her. It was just that...

"Okay, class dismissed!" the teacher yelled over the already yelling students.

Kairi hung back a little, in the hopes of being able to be able to talk to Sora or Riku alone, but was shot down once she saw them leave with the gang in tow. She should've been able to just pack up and follow them, seeing as how they were her friends too, but lately she'd kinda felt like she was..."Casting out" if that made any sense.

'It's fine, I guess...' she thought as she spied Sora and Riku holding hands as they left the school for lunch. 'They'll tell me when they're ready...'

Feeling a little dejected, she turned to go to the cafeteria. Sure, she could've caught up with them, but lately it kinda felt like she was intruding...all of freshman year, actually. Ever since high school started everyone kinda fell into their own groups. It's not like she was jealous or anything; she really didn't mind that her friends were having fun, even if she wasn't directly involved. 'I just wish I could be out having fun too...'

"Hey! It's the little redhead!"

Looking around, Kairi caught sight of Yuffie, one of the sophomore girls. She didn't even know Yuffie knew her name; "Little redhead" and "Sora and Riku's groupie" was pretty much all she called her. She wasn't even really sure when or where she'd met the other girl, but she did know that Yuffie liked to be the center of attention and was a little (a lot) overbearing. Kairi turned around immediately, not really wanting to get into conversation with Yuffie. Sure, she was nice, but the noise level always seemed to rise a bit with her around.

"Heeey! Why are you trying to run awaaay?" Yuffie called out as she spied Kairi trying to make a tactful exit. 'Maybe if I walk away fast enough she won't catch up to me...'

This wasn't the case. Sooner than not Kairi was being hauled back to the cafeteria by Yuffie and some other upperclassmen she didn't know. Great. Along with being ditched by Sora and Riku, she was more or less taken captive by people she had no clue about, which, in case you were wondering, was exactly what she wanted to happen. But really, why would they want to bother her anyway? It wasn't like she stood out in any way-it was actually like she had some kind of negative-noticability, if that was possible.

"So Reddy Heady, how're things?" Yuffie asked as she sat Kairi down at some unrecognizable lunch table. Everyone at the table was staring at the younger girl like she had just dropped from the sky, especially some brunette guy in a cowboy hat.

"I'm fine..." the auburn haired girl whispered, ducking her head slightly.

That one little statement seemed to get a bunch of hushed whispers and such from the table inhabitants, really making her wonder what the heck they wanted. It reminded her of being interrogated by her parents about whatever wrongs she'd happened to commit. "So Groupie," Yuffie continued, oblivious to the fact that Kairi looked incredibly uncomfortable, "you're single right?"

Kairi hesitated; these kinds of conversations always ended weirdly. Why on in the world did she want to know, anyway? "Well..." she began.

"And no, Riku and Sora don't count," Yuffie interjected, teasing the other girl.

There was some giggling around the table at this, and Kairi felt her face flush in anger and embarrassment. Yuffie didn't even know her; who was she to just use her as an entertainment source for her stupid friends? Kairi knew she was a bit of an easy target, but that was no reason for her to just back down and let people run all over her, right? But...then again...she had absolutely no backbone. She merely nodded and glanced away. It didn't matter what they thought after all, seeing as how she never really saw them or talked to them anyway. "To hell with them" as Riku would have put it.

"Well then," Yuffie said with a grin as the people sitting behind her started to murmur to the guy in the cowboy hat, "that's all the info I needed! See ya!" With a dismissive wave, Yuffie turned around and started to chat with her friends in a hushed voice, leaving Kairi sitting there awkwardly. It wouldn't have really bothered her so much (she was planning on leaving anyway), but when they started to giggle and glance back at her...well, that's when she started to flare up. "To hell with them" as Sora would've put it.

Feeling her self-righteous anger boil, Kairi got up and marched out of the cafeteria gripping her laptop angrily. They were probably making fun of her. If she had had a bit more courage she would've made sure to shoot them some nasty glances, but since she chose to be passive about it, she shot them dirty glances mentally. 'Only two more periods 'till school's over, only two more...'

Just in the nick of time, the end-of-lunch bell rang and everyone rampaged their way down the hallway.

"Ah!" Kairi squealed as she saw numerous people storm their way towards her. In middle school she was equipped with a bigger boy (Sora didn't count 'cause he was practically the same height and weight as she was), so maneuvering through the hallways was pretty much just walking behind Riku. But, unfortunately for her, her bodyguard was out playing bodyguard for someone else, leaving the poor girl to fend for herself.

True Kairi was a total pushover, but that didn't mean she was ready to be run over. The auburn haired girl tried to turn and stay close to the wall, but was pushed back by a very angry someone. "Why don't you open your eyes and watch where you're going?!" the person spat as she fell to the floor, not even bothering to utter an "Are you okay?" or even a quick on-the-go "I'm sorry".

Preparing for the worst, the small girl tried to scramble up as people swarmed all around her, but was jolted upwards as someone grabbed her and pulled her up. "Hey? What's wrong with you, you blind?"

Yuffie was holding her by her tank top strap, pulling her by the wall. "You can't just throw yourself on the ground you know," she said, scolding Kairi like she was her mother, "...I bet no one even saw you..."

Kairi was about to thank her; even if Yuffie was slightly obnoxious and impolite it would have been rude of her not to notice the effort, but noticed that her tank top strap was still being held hostage by Yuffie, and the whole front of her bra was clearly visible.

"Ah!" she yelped, jumping back and away from the other girl.

"Oop, uh, I didn't mean to! Honestly!" Yuffie yelled as Kairi ran away in a tiffy. "Hey! Aren't you gonna thank me?"

* * *

Yuffie folded her hands behind her head and stared up at the cloudy sky above. It was a nice Monday afternoon at the overly crowded park and she needed something to distract herself from doing homework that was due God knows when. As to be expected of her, she opted to laze about rather than to do the work. Duh. But to properly laze one needs a subject to laze about to, and Yuffie's mind happened to fall upon Kairi. The younger girl was pretty cute, if she did say so herself. That didn't mean she was going to try anything, but still... 'It's really adorable how shy she is and all...' 

Yuffie decided to cut herself short at that-she was dating someone after all. 'Speaking of the Great Maw' she thought, checking the time, 'where is she? It's past five...'

"Hey Yuffie, what're you doing?" Rinoa asked as she walked up to the hill where Yuffie was laying.

"Hm?" Yuffie asked, noticing that, as usual, Rinoa had bought a new purse she would probably use only once. "Oh, just doing a little thinking..." She sat up and smiled, happy that Rinoa didn't drag poor Ellone along this time. Ellone was new in town, and for some reason Rinoa felt the need to "take her under her wing" or something like that.

Anyone with sense could tell that Ellone was uncomfortable hanging around Rinoa, but then again, Rinoa wasn't someone with sense.

"You seem different...did you cut your hair or something?" Yuffie asked as she walked around her girlfriend, poking fun at the fact that the other girl had actually let Ellone live her own life.

"Ha ha...Ellone runs that computer club thing, remember? I couldn't drag her away today..." Rinoa pouted.

"She probably just made that up as an excuse to get away from you..." Yuffie muttered under her breath.

"What? What did you just say?"

"Nothing, nothing..." the raven-haired teen said as she took the other girl's hand. Rinoa was sure to forget soon anyways.

"So what's new?" Rinoa asked Yuffie as they walked down and around the park.

"You remember Irvine? Well he asked me to set him up with some freshman girl...Kairi." Yuffie began offhandedly. 'And she's really cute,' she was about to add. She and Rinoa did have a pretty open relationship, but maybe that would be a little too far (even though Yuffie did hear those offhand comments her girlfriend tended to make about those girls who just "hung around" certain street corners).

"Ohhhhhh really?" Rinoa asked, gaining her element. "So, what? Is she cute?"

"..."

"Good answer. So anyways, I think he should..."

Yuffie drowned Rinoa out as she enveloped herself in her thoughts. 'People are staring at us...'

Maybe the fact that they were both girls wasn't what seemed to attract all the stares; it could've had something to do with the obvious age gap between them. Sure, Rinoa was five years older than Yuffie, but if you like someone you like them, right? Is that so wrong?

The age difference between the two of them never really bothered Yuffie before, but lately she'd kinda felt that she and Rinoa were drifting apart. It wasn't necessarily the age gap doing this, but something else she couldn't quite put her finger on. 'Oh, what does it matter anyway' Yuffie thought, watching a little kid fall off their bike at an alarming speed. "Hey Yuffie, you looked spaced out," Rinoa said as she came to a halt in front of the younger girl's house and stopped her rambling about whatever it was she was rambling about.

Yuffie looked up at her girlfriend, "Eh? Oh, sorry. I was just thinking..."

At first Rinoa gave her a rare quizzical look, as if she knew something else was on the other girl's mind. The look faded; however, as Yuffie grinned sheepishly and gave a typical thumbs up. Flashing her best smile, Rinoa kissed Yuffie on the cheek and let go of her hand. "Wait, where're you going?" Yuffie asked as Rinoa dug in her overly tiny purse and started to head off. "You said you'd spend the night tonight..."

"I have to go to work, so I gotta go!" Rinoa responded, not even bothering to look back as she paraded away.

"Bye!" Yuffie called, even though she was sure Rinoa wasn't even paying attention. 'I bet if I told her I had gum she'd pay attention...' she thought bitterly. It wasn't exactly that Rinoa was a heartless beast who mistreated Yuffie; she was just totally and utterly lacking of an attention span beyond a nanosecond. It was childlike, in a way, but Yuffie didn't really like to think of it that way (she wasn't a pedophile).

As she entered her house, Yuffie waved hi to her older sister and went straight to her room, hoping for a clean getaway. She knew her sister probably saw her and Rinoa, but didn't really want to get into it. Tifa's head was hard as a brick, so there was just no getting through to her. Sure, she loved her little sister, but homosexuality was a big no-no in her mind, so the thought of Yuffie involved with another girl threw her into conniptions. She was almost as bad as those moms in the teen drama shows she watched all the time.

"You got out of school over an hour ago!" she yelled as Yuffie shut her room door. "You can't just stay out like that and not tell me! Are you listening to m-_don't turn your radio on, Dammit-!"_

Ignoring whatever it was that Tifa had yelled out to her (even though she had a pretty good idea what it was), Yuffie threw her bag on the floor and went straight towards her computer. For schoolwork, you ask? Ohhh, no, Yuffie never did homework. She got pretty mediocre grades, but she still managed to break through to her sophomore year. Instead, she went to chat rooms or IM'ed people. Especially those "single and looking for companionship" ones. Not that she was, but she found it amusing to mess with desperate singles that would go as far as the internet to find a potential mate.

As far as Yuffie was concerned, she was all set. She had good friends, a good girlfriend, a computer with internet, and generally a good life. 'So,' she thought as she set up the internet, 'who're my first victims..?'

Once she found the website, she scrolled down and looked for any subject that she felt like messing with today. One in particular caught her eye.

Lonely.

Ha. Who would whine about their loneliness online? She had found her subject(s).

Double-clicking she smiled as the chat room came up, and she was highly amused at what she saw.

_I feel so lonely, it's like no one even realizes I exist... no one will date me because of how I look...I have no friends because people are afraid of the way I dress, _she read in between fits of laughter. "Pfft, ha ha...I guess I better write something, too..."

_Oh is there anyone out there who will talk to me? I feel so alone in this big, big world" _she typed About fifty little response boxes came up. "Bwah ha ha ha! What a bunch of idiots they are!" Yuffie laughed gleefully as she read the responses.

Deep down, Yuffie knew what she was doing was wrong. But it was just a little fun, right? No harm, no foul. It's not like she was ever going to meet any of these pathetic losers in real life anyways, but, even as she thought that, there was a familiar twinge in her stomach, that evil dose of conscience saying she of all people had no right to degrade lonely people.

Even so, she made sappy whiny replies to all the responses she got, laughing all the way. So what if her conscience beckoned against it? Her problems seemed less amplified if she was seeing them in others. None of the comments she got really interested her, making her wonder if maybe she should just go to sleep or make something to eat for temporary distraction. However, one comment in particular caught her eye.

_Get out._

What? Had she been figured out? It would seem logical, seeing as how she terrorized the random chat rooms practically every day.

_What do you mean, _she typed, trying to sound as innocent as possible. After a pause, there was _We both know you don't belong here. You're faking it. You're probably one of those people who just go to chat rooms like this to make fun of people._

Urk.

'Hm…' she thought as she spied the comment. 'How could they know...? Oh well. Might as well spill the beans,' she thought as she began typing, after all, honesty was the best policy (funny words to describe what she's doing).

_I'm not really one to beat around the bush. Yes, I am here because I find you people with no social lives amusing. So anyways: how did you know?_

The reply came as: _Let's just say I'm really good at reading people. And you don't seem like a very sincere person. Have a nice life._

Next thing she knew, Yuffie was kicked out of the chat room. "Aw, come on!" she wailed as she tried to enter again.

"I wasn't done having my fun..."

Every time she tried to get back in, the response was "Lyric Paopou has barred your ISP from this chat site".

So it would seem this "Lyric Paopou" person was the chat room mediator. "Ah well" she murmured as she turned the computer off. She leaned back in her broken chair (Rinoa had sat on it wrong and broke the backrest while bouncing) and stared at the blank screen. She was bored. And usually with her if she had a chance to let her mind wander it would. _A good girlfriend...a good life..._

She remembered those words she had thought earlier as she lambasted the people who really weren't so different from herself. If she had such a good life then why did it suddenly feel like the blank monitor? She couldn't really explain what it was that had gotten her feeling that way, but lately it seemed like she had fallen out of tune once again. It was like she was a device put long to sleep, waiting for someone to come and click her on and get her started up once more. Only the people around her weren't doing it the right way. Or maybe not at all.

In an instant she did feel lonely-terrifyingly lonely; so isolated she couldn't even-

"..."

Yuffie leaned forward and rested her head on the rickety computer desk (it had been assembled by her own self), eyes wide. What was she thinking? She was acting like she was one of those idiot people from one of those chat rooms.

She'd go out in the living room and bother Rinoa or call Irvine or something. She _wasn't_ a lonely person, not anymore. She, along with her parents back then, had changed, and she'd be dammed if she turned into one of those people from that chat room again.

* * *

-Ahhh, the first chapter, written in a day. Well, one night and one afternoon after school. I've gotten a lot of emails asking me what kind of music I listen to when im writing and what inspires me to write. Well, daily life inspires me to write. Something will happen and I'll just start writing. But often when this happens, the characters tend to "get stuck on the roof" lol inside joke, sorry. Oh yeah, naked girls. They also inspire me to write (lol). So, what I listen to...well, with BtCM, I listened to a lot of Brand New. And TCM, well, I didn't really listen to anything. Hm...Then A Dirty Little Habit...well, you can just read that one to know what I was listening to!!! But with the rest, like this one, any kind of Japanese CDs I happen to have, like anime or game soundtracks. And Utada Hikaru. But lately The FF X-2 soundtrack. By the way, this soundtrack is a hellava lot better in Japanese. The English version is pretty crappy. Great Job, Yuna's VA. 


	2. Purely By Chance

Ch.2: Purely by chance

-Meep Meep woooooooo. Nothing really story-relevant to say here. Hm...well, I've just been ad-libbing this thing and hoping it turns out right. With my other stories I've always planned everything out beforehand. Right now my little sister is screaming her eyes out. I had to put this story on hiatus due to the sudden relocation of the computer.

* * *

The sack of skin and bones formally known as Kairi bobbed her way down the sidewalk by her house, listening to her CD player. Unlike her friend Sora, who ran around with his CD player wherever he went, she rarely turned the thing on. Usually she was either on her laptop or sitting around by the phone waiting for Sora or Riku to call. But not today. Even she had to admit, she spent way too much time by herself. Her parents said that if she stayed that way she'd end up like the lady across the street that pushed a shopping cart full of cans up and down the street. Usually whatever her parents had to say about her personality quirks annoyed her so much she chose not to listen, but it was a little obvious, even to her, that she was just a tad bit too introverted.

That being said, she suddenly felt inspired to get up and get out.

In other words, go down to the park. Small steps Kairi, small steps.

And so, as she walked down the street and into worlds unknown (the only time she ever went out was to go to school or Sora or Riku's house-and they were in the opposite direction), she held the unwavering feeling like the whole outside world would swallow her up whole when she least expected it . Aside from whatever people in her chat room or her teachers talked about, she knew next to nothing about the world. Even when she, Sora, and Riku would still hang out on a daily basis, she was unconsciously standoffish.

"Kairi, you need to learn how to have fun" Riku would tease her whenever she refused to swordfight with him and Sora. She would usually join in on the stupidity, but as the three of them got older and she started to drift apart from the two of them, she found herself reclusive and shy around them, even though they were her two best-and only-friends.

'It's not my fault I'm not outgoing...' she thought as she stared at the moving sidewalk. 'It's just that I'm not…made for interacting with people.'

All around her she would see couples holding hands, unruly teens and children running for their dear lives for some unseen entity, some unexplained feeling she'd just never grasped before. In a world so full of people it made her feel…

'Lonely…'

Kairi continued her mini-journey of the outside world and headed for the swings on Broken Slide Park (that wasn't the actual name; it just had a broken slide).

Once she sat down on one of them and set her CD player aside, some guy with a tattoo on his face noticed her and yelled in her direction. He was playing football with a bunch of people, or at least looked like he was, when he said "Hey, how old are you? Five? Get off the swings, idiot!"

Kairi's face flushed in shame. She felt like an idiot. It really shouldn't have mattered to her, what some random guy she didn't know had to say to her. But it did. No matter how hard she tried to block other people out, hurtful words seemed to be more easily heard than helpful ones.

"…"

Kairi averted her gaze and considered just putting her headphones on so he'd leave her alone. Would he really have left her alone, though?

'No, I should've just left my headphones on…or never have walked out of my house in the first place…'

Kairi knew it was stupid, and didn't really want to, but got up off the swing and started to walk in the other direction, causing the guy and some of his friends to howl with laughter.

'Why do I have to be so timid?' she thought as she blinked back her tears of frustration. 'Why can't I be the kind of person to stand up for myself? I wish I could just be able to stand up and say-'

"Hey, fuck off!"

With wide eyes, Kairi spun around to see who had said that (and if it had been said to her).

To add to her shock, she could see Yuffie standing with her back to her, talking to the guy with the tattoo.

"It's not right to pick on people; she's just a kid..."

"Whatever, Yuffie. She looks the same age as you" Tattoo guy said as Yuffie turned around and jogged towards the swings.

Kairi stood there with her mouth open as Yuffie approached her, wiping sweat off her forehead.

"Don't listen to Zell" she said as she stopped walking, "he gets angry when he looses. And loose he did".

Kairi smiled weakly and tried not to look at Yuffie.

She was wearing the smallest tank top Kairi had ever seen and very short khaki shorts.

'How can she wear something like that in front of all those boys?' Kairi thought wildly as Yuffie continued.

"So I guess this is the second time I've saved you, huh?" she teased.

"Uhm, yeah..."

Yuffie's smile faded and she tilted her head and rested her hand on her hip.

"How come you never talk? You act so meek all the time".

Kairi shrugged.

Yuffie shook her head and smiled giving Kairi a weird look.

"Look, just be careful or whatever. Pretty much every time I see you you're in some kind of trouble. You're just as bad as Rinoa, and from experience I know that that's a little bad…"

"Hey hey hey, Yuffie!"

Yuffie spun around and Kairi could see a girl with long black hair waving comically as she approached them. She looked so comical, in fact, that Kairi actually had to suppress the urge to grin at her as she bounded over to them. She looked ridiculous.

"Oh, hey Rinoa" Yuffie said, abandoning Kairi.

'Who's that? Older sister?' Kairi thought as the girl...Rinoa...smiled at the approaching Yuffie.

"Nothing much, just came to pick you up" she said, kissing her on the forehead.

...Huh?

"Oh hey, this is Kairi, she goes to my school."

"Ah? _The _Kairi? Pleased to meet you." Rinoa smiled, offering a hand to an awkwardly stunned Kairi. It wasn't really that big of a deal that Yuffie was gay. Right? Riku and Sora were, and she didn't have any problem with them… "Kairi? You alive?" Yuffie asked, waving her hand in front of the other girl's face (which was undoubtedly blank as ever in an attempt to not seem rude). "Huh? Oh, sorry, I was…lost a bit-I mean! I, uh, I'm not having much of an appetite lately!"

"You wha?"

Yeah….more than a little awkward.

* * *

Yuffie whistled a happy tune as she stalked the main school hallways. She was looking for Irvine...or Kairi. For some reason, just because Irvine had seen Yuffie say hi to Kairi in the hallway once, he seemed to think they were best friends and that she could hook them up.

Regardless to say, Yuffie knew practically nothing about Kairi other than the fact that she was so introverted it was crazy. But hey, Irvine was a friend and that's what friends do.

'Even though I don't think Kairi would go out with someone like Irvine', she thought, thinking of Irvine's rather erratic behavior. In all honesty it was hard to imagine timid little Kairi in a relationship with Irvine, who seemed to be the embodiment of everything wrong with guys. In spite of herself, Yuffie felt kinda bad setting them up. Irvine wasn't even really all that much of a friend- just someone who hung out with people she hung out with. If anything, he'd probably end up hurting Kairi somehow. 'But it's not like Kairi and I are friends, so why am I worried about it…? Oh, right, like I can just sit around while Irvine takes advantage of random girls…'

Just as she began to ponder where she would be if she were one of them, there was a flash of red, white, and purple, and Yuffie was practically ran over.

"Wh-what the hell?!" she yelled as someone ran full speed in the opposite direction without bothering to ask if she survived the mauling.

'Kids these days' she thought as she rubbed her arm. Whoever that was sure had legs on 'em.

"Hey! Kairi wait!"

Kairi? "Hey, was that Kairi?"

Next thing she knew, two guys were lumbering down the hallway in her direction.

"Don't run me over!" she yelled, dodging out of their way. She wasn't really in the mood to be ran over again.

"Hey Yuffie, have you seen…seen…?" Riku asked, clearly out of breath.

"H...hey, have you seen a little redhead run by here?" Sora asked, clutching his knees and gasping for breath. The boy obviously needed some exercise if running around a school the size of a small child was exhausting to him. Poor thing.

"Ehhh...maybe. _Someone _ran me over, that's for sure".

"Kairi" both the boys said in unison.

Yuffie laughed. "Lost your groupie, eh?" it was funny, honestly, how pathetic they looked. At that moment Yuffie realized that she had almost never seen the two of them without their tag along girl.

Sora smiled and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Maybe for good, actually..."

Yuffie blinked.

"How so? What, ya'll get in a fight?" Riku and Sora exchanged nervous glances and laughed weakly.

"Well...let's just say she saw something and got a little upset" he said, smiling off into the distance.

"You can just leave it at that" a smiling Yuffie said, not wanting to hear the finer details.

"She went that way" she said as she pointed to the freshman hallway.

"Thanks" they said as they strode off in hopes of finding her.

'Hm' Yuffie thought as she continued her never-ending search.

'So Kairi didn't know they were going together, eh?'

"...Wonder why".

* * *

Kairi held her head high as she walked the school hallways.

No more being pushed around! Kairi of Old ended today, she had decided. After all, she couldn't go through life with her head down (even though she didn't really consider high school "life"). She made it to her locker and managed to talk to her friend Selphie without being humiliated or anything. Not that she was the target of school bullying, but she did seem to be an embarrassment magnet.

Today was a good day.

'Oh!' she thought, suddenly remembering that she'd left her laptop in the computer club room so Selphie (who seemed to have disappeared of the face of the world) could use it. She'd left it there yesterday after the last meeting, saying she'd get it the next day. 'How could I be so stupid?!' she thought. That's why she'd come to school so early, after all. Usually she didn't get to school a little while before school started. Her computer was like an extension of herself, not having it with her was like…not having an arm or something, but not as disfiguring. 'I had to watch TV with my parents all day' she thought, shuddering. She never did like TV too much, or at least the shows her parents watched.

'Good thing I remembered...' she thought as she headed towards the club room. Hopefully it wasn't stolen or whatever. That'd be a little hard to explain to her parents.

She twisted the doorknob and prepared to enter.

As she opened the door expecting just to grab her laptop and leave (maybe snagging one of those nasty cinnamon candies for Sora that he liked even though he spat them out and said they were too "hot"), she was met with an...unexpected sight.

Once again, she knew Sora and Riku were an item, but such a blatant display of…being coupled was kind of startling, not to mention embarrassing.

"Eh!" she yelped.

"Oh, uh, Kairi, what're you doing here so early?" Riku said with a nervous laugh as he backed away from a blushing Sora.

Kairi just stared. They were not. Tactful. Why in the computer room in the first place? Sure, it's pretty much empty 24/7, but still…they knew Kairi hung out with Selphie there sometimes. Plus, they had to recognize her laptop ( it was on the table right behind them, for crying out loud…).

Sora rubbed his neck nervously and said, "Uh, it's...not what it looks like, we were just-"

"Do you think I'm stupid or something?" Kairi asked, frowning at them with all the backbone she could muster. It wasn't like she was mad. It wasn't like she was jealous or anything like that, she just felt…betrayed. To find out like that was a little hurtful. Sure, she already knew, but why couldn't they have just came out and said so?

Sora and Riku looked at Kairi in shock.

"What?"

"I'm not an idiot, you know!" Kairi said as she stared at the ground and balled her fists. She was going to regret this later on, she knew it, but she still couldn't help herself from getting mad. They'd been friends since kindergarten, and if anything she had the right to know about them being together. The only reason she was so upset was that they were hiding it from her, Kairi, their best friend in the whole world. Or supposedly.

"I know you two are dating! I mean, how I could not? It's so obvious- everyone knows! _Why couldn't you guys tell me?_ Aren't we friends? Haven't we known each other forever? I don't keep anything from you; so why do it to me?"

Riku bit his lip and Sora nervously cracked his knuckles. This made her feel bad for yelling. She didn't want to fight or yell or any of that. She was just so frustrated.

"Ehm...Kai, we only didn't tell you because..."

Sora glanced nervously at Riku, who kind of avoided his glance and paid unnecessary attention to the room door, looking like he wanted to run out of it. "Because..."

"Because _what?_" Kairi yelled, shocking even herself.

"Why, Sora? Riku? You should know that you two can tell me anything. Why are we…"

'Drifting apart' she finished to herself, not even mustering up the gumption to say it out loud. In truth, the two of them were her closest friends. Sure, she had Selphie, but that was totally different from what she had with the other two. Not having them was like not having a part of herself. What had she done to them to be cast out like she was?

Sora looked at the ground and Riku looked away.

"Why did you have to hide it? I wouldn't hide something like this from you two!"

There was an awkward silence, something that had never, in all nine years of knowing each other, happened. Kairi sighed and hung her head. This was bad.

Now they were probably mad and wouldn't ever talk to her again. She'd probably ruined their friendship because she felt left out.

'But even so, I have a right to be upset…right?'

"We...we weren't trying to hide it..." Sora began.

"It was just...too hard to say" Riku said, looking at her.

"You are our best friend, Kairi...we didn't want you to think any less of us because we're gay..." Sora said, doing that watery thing with his eyes that always made Kairi think of him as a puppy. His timing sure sucked; he had no right to pull that when she was on a rant.

"How could you even think that?" she yelled back, trying not to fall for the Puppy Eyes.

"I'm your friend, for goodness sake! I would never think less of you two for anything you do!"

Sora and Riku said nothing.

"I would never..." she continued.

'Is that true?' she thought.

'Would the way I see them have changed if they had told me? I said it wouldn't, but with Yuffie...'

It was hard to know. She barely even knew Yuffie and had judged her because of her sexuality, so what would she had said about the two of them?

Kairi brushed past them and grabbed her laptop.

"I'll see you later" she muttered as she strode away. 'If I ever see you again.'

"It's cause you're so sheltered, you know" Riku said, turning towards her as she began to leave the room.

"And Kairi, you can't say you wouldn't have been freaked out. Because you're just so naive when it comes to the world you get upset when you encounter something you don't know how to deal with. No, you wouldn't have done it to be hurtful to us, but just think about it. You would've been awkward about it and so would we. Then what do you think would happen? You'd avoid us, like you do with everything you have problems with. That's why we haven't told you, Kairi."

Kairi turned to him, wide-eyed and unable to reply. He'd hit the nail on the head. "Riku..." Sora muttered sharply.

Kairi's lip trembled as Riku stared a hole through her. He was right and they both knew it.

"I…well, I don't really know what to say. Sorry. Hope you two are happy together; don't let my naïveté get in the way of things" she said, moving through them and into the hallway.

"Riku, you idiot!" she heard Sora snap as she skidded down the hallway. She didn't care what she had told herself earlier about not being so cry babyish and timid, but she couldn't help herself. How could this happen?

The three of them had always been best friends!

Aside from minor fights, they had never gotten that angry. And these minor fights were always over dumb stuff, like who got to scare Sora on Halloween, or who got to eat the last tater tot.

'This is my fault!' she thought as she turned to run down the main hallway. 'They only couldn't tell me because I'm too naive to be able to accept it!'

In the great hurry she was in, she ran into someone in the usual cliched fashion.

She wasn't really in the mood for another argument, seeing as how she'd most likely just lost her two best friends, so she just kept going until she reached the freshman hallway, gasping for breath and clutching her knees like an idiot.

She leaned against the wall and hung her head as she tried to fight back the tears that were probably going to claim another victory over her.

'I'm so stupid...' she thought miserably.

Of course all this had to happen on the day she was going to make her miraculous change. She was being more Kairi-ish than usual that day. The only thing missing was someone to witness the spectacle that was her awkwardness-

"Hey, you okay?"

The Voice From Nowhere surprised her so much she jolted up, bumping her head on the wall.

"Oh, gosh, sorry! I didn't mean to scare you; you're so jumpy, though. Here, take this." Looking up, she saw one of Yuffie's friends, the one with the cowboy hat, giving her a look somewhere between amusement and curiosity. The first thing she could remember about the first impression he left on her was wonder about just how he managed to get away with his hat thing when hats were against dress code in the first place. She knew enough about him, though; he was a troublemaker (as were most of the people who Yuffie seemed to associate with). "I'm fine!" she said as she straightened up as much as possible without her head throbbing in agony. Maybe she had a concussion.

"Here" he said again, holding out a handkerchief with a huge smile on his face like on those teen dramas Sora used to watch. In all honesty, it was totally creepy. Kairi didn't even know him and he was shooting crazy psycho vibes all over the place. But, then again, she started off distrusting everyone, so maybe the crazy psycho vibes were just in her head.

"Use this..."

'Who carries these around anymore?' she thought as she took it (checking for any weirdness) and wiped her eyes in an attempt to look not creeped out, even though she was fighting the urge to sprint away. She had to admit, though, it was rather nice of him, as long as the handkerchief didn't have some kind of date rape drug infused in it.

"I'm sorry..." she muttered as she handed it back, trying not to touch his hand (more creepiness).

"Now it's all wet..."

"It's fine," he said, putting it in his pocket and smiling a smile that looked rather…creepy.

"That's what it's for, after all".

Kairi smiled up at him, wondering if he was going to kill her then or wait to stalk her for a few days. Yes, those thoughts may sound crazy to others, but this guy seemed a little off the spectrum. He even looked the part.

Sure he was acting nice enough, but...something just seemed off about him.

"See ya, uh...?"

"Kairi" she said quietly, cursing herself for not making up a name. Now it'd be relatively easier for him to find her if he did go all weirdo crazy.

"Oh. That's a pretty name," he said with a wide smile, stepping way too close for comfort. By then Kairi was wondering why the freshman hallway was totally empty, and why this guy, who was obviously not a freshman, was prowling around. Probably looking for random girls to murder and eat or something.

"See ya later, Kairi" he said, putting emphasis on her name.

She stood there staring at him for a while, her heart fluttering nervously from the contact with the serial killer. Did he just...flirt with her?

' Nah' she thought, shuddering a bit. 'He was probably just trying to lull me into a false sense of security before he decides to hack me up into little pieces. I should totally tell Selphie about this...'

Even if he did seem to have some kind of weird aura, she was grateful he had come along when he did…maybe. Possible serial killers weren't really all that important, though, seeing as how she'd just ruined her friendship with her two best friends ever. She was such an idiot, yelling like that. She should've just kept her mouth shut as usual. 'But…I did stick up for myself…kinda. I guess it was just the wrong place at the wrong time, though.'

As she turned to head for her first period class, Sora rounded the corner behind her, Riku-less for the first time in about a few months.

"Kairi please! We need to talk!"

* * *

-Mwah ha ha...another chapter down. This story is...hard to explain. I'm not even sure if it's any good. I just feel like typing so I am. Give plenty of reviews, good or bad. I do need an opinion. This story I drew really heavily on my life. The way Kairi acts and the way she feels like she's drifting from her friends, that is. Did anyone get the "Dirty Little Habit" reference? It's a little vague, you'd have to read that chapter over closely to catch it, or just know Dirty Little Habit by heart. And Irvine. Ahhh, Irvine. I guess it would seem like I'm an Irvine-hater, but not actually. He's actually one of my favorite FFVIII characters...its just that he seems better suited for the weird roles. And another thing; check out my greatestjournal! I haven't updated it in forever, but...whatever. 


	3. Scared of the Future

Ch.3: Scared of the future

-Ahh, the never-ending author's notes. When will they end? Never. Never I tell you, muah ha ha! Sigh whatever. Look, read, review, lick, like, whatever. I don't care. I got an account on Myspace...my URL is yeah, the first draft of this was started my sophomore year (05) and its now 07. I work slow, as you see. Sorry.

* * *

It was a good idea. The girl needed to get a life anyway. Right? It's wasn't like she was asking her to go to a rave and have an orgy or anything...but for some reason it felt wrong. No, not wrong...corrupted. There we go, corrupted. But a party was a party, right?

And there weren't going to be any drugs or anything at this party, so she didn't need to be feeling like scum, luring innocent young girls into evil plots. 'Damn. Hmmm... the party ends at ten, after all, and that wasn't super late or anything. No reason to be conscious, right? Right? Damn.'

These were Yuffie's thoughts as she stared down at the flyer for Irvine's party. She really, really wasn't looking forward to this. He had asked her to invite Kairi. _The_ Kairi. Mrs. I don't speak to anyone or even glance at other people because I'm too shy, Kairi. Ugh.

"Good clean fun, that's all!" was all he said when she asked if there was going to be anything...Irvine-ish there. It wasn't the fact that she had to ask someone, usually she'd go up and down the halls asking people to come, or stuffing fliers in their lockers vindictively. It wasn't that at all. It was the fact that she had to ask Kairi. Kairi-Kairi goody two-shoes.

Getting her to get out would be almost as hard as getting Rinoa to shut up. Harder, maybe.

Yuffie took a deep breath and frowned. It wasn't only Irvine who was breathing down her neck about this load of crap. After hearing Irvine describe her (in painstaking, horribly exaggerated detail), Rinoa said she wanted to meet this Kairi girl also. And if Yuffie didn't deliver, Rinoa would throw a fit.

And that was something Yuffie would like to avoid in the near future.

Sure, Rinoa was a little (lot) childish for her age, but the fits, oh the fits... It was like watching _Cheers_ with the sound all the way up. She had asked Sora and Riku, and they said Kairi always went to the computer room in the mornings and sometimes after school.

To her, this screamed "HELP! I AM IN DESPERATE NEED OF A SOCIAL LIFE!" but who was she to judge? Even though she did it on an almost nightly basis on chat rooms to people she was never in her lifetime going to meet….

Yuffie headed deep into the dorky bowels of the school known as the "Scholar Hallway", where nerds are king and most people in the school avoid like the plague. It contained all things dork, such as the computer room, spelling bee comp., and other things she would dare not set foot near. But if not this, what were friends for?

'Irvine owes me big for this...' she thought as she entered the room (using the hem of her tank top to open the doorknob). 'I'm gonna make him buy me those Indigo Girls CDs I saw the other day on Amazon' she thought maliciously.

"And that's...oh hi, Yuffie..."

It was Ellone, Rinoa-less for the first time in weeks.

And Kairi.

'Where's everyone else?' she thought, scanning the room.

No one else was there. 'Am I interrupting something?' she thought nervously, catching the silence as soon as she walked into the room. 'Oh great. Work away, imagination. Kairi's not like that. Stop it. Oh great, what did I come in here for?'

"Can I help you with something? It's not Rinoa, is it?" Ellone said, leaning back in her chair, tapping the chalkboard with the headrest. It was funny, really, how small the computer room was. Poor dorks got not funding at all.

'Poor, poor Ellone' Yuffie thought.

Ellone and Rinoa had met while applying for jobs at the high school, from what she'd heard.

Needless to say, Ellone got the job and Rinoa didn't. Not really a surprise. Yuffie had the feeling Rinoa probably would've gotten the job if she was wearing something that could've been described as "appropriate".

But when Ellone let it slip that she was new in town, Rinoa slipped into overdrive mode.

"No, it's not. I just wanted to talk to her," she said pointing a well-manicured finger at a wide-eyed Kairi, who had the typical "Why me?" look on her face. Aw, she was embarrassed. It was cute, really, how easy it was to get her flustered.

Ellone looked like she wanted to say something else to Kairi, but shot a glance at Yuffie and shut her mouth immediately, smiling poignantly.

"See you later, Kairi."

"N-no, I'll be back-"

"Oh, no you won't!" Yuffie said with exaggerated enthusiasm, grinning as the other girl's face glowed scarlet. She was thinking about making it into a game of some sort-"How many times can you make Kairi blush?" or something like that. Fifty points for doing something like just touching her. A hundred plus points for saying something that makes her blush. 'I should tell Irvine about this game….'

"What is it?" Kairi asked, wallowing in more unnecessary self-pity. That look she had on her face was only making things worse. Was she always so sickeningly innocent? Or did she just do it around Yuffie for laughs and giggles?

"Okay it's like this..." Yuffie stated, trying to find the words.

"One of my friends, you see, he, uh, likes you. And, he wanted to know if you would go to a little get-together of his so you two could get to know each other a little better."

There, she said it. It wasn't too bad, even if she did have to go out of her way to not mention the tiny fact that Irvine was a complete and utter idiot. But, then again, Kairi did hang out with Sora and Riku. Maybe idiots were her type.

Kairi blinked, the "I'm so trusting and naïve" look painted all over her face like a little china doll. Yuffie felt like killing herself a little.

'Please say yes, please say yes...'

"Yeah. I'll come. I just need some kind of excuse to tell my parents."

...Huh?

"Eh?" Yuffie asked, wearing Kairi's usual blank stare. Did she just say yes? Of all things? It was the apocalypse.

"Sure" Kairi repeated, wearing something of a grin, as if she knew how much torture Yuffie was going through.

"Why not? I have nothing else planned...but when does it end and all?"

Yuffie continued to wear the Kairi Face. Why'd she say yes? That's what she wanted to hear and all, but...

"It...uh...it begins at six and ends at ten...only a few people will be there. Like Zell! You remember him, right? He was the guy who gave you a hard time at the park the other day-uh. Um, I mean…uh."

Wrong thing to say; the look on Kairi's face wasn't a good one.

'Crap!' Yuffie thought, kicking herself for being such an idiot. If she had turrets syndrome then maybe that would be an excuse, but unfortunately ( or fortunately, however you see the situation) she didn't, so it was just pure foolishness on her part. Time for some theatrics. Maybe if she intentionally made a fool of herself it would embarrass Kairi so much she had to say yes…again.

"Please!" Yuffie cried, grabbing Kairi's hand, wailing dramatically, inciting the stares of the sparse hallway dwellers. The look on the other girls' face was priceless. 'That's about two hundred points if I do say so myself.'

"Please! I'll get on my hands and knees and beg, if that's what it takes! Irvine really likes you, and a lot of other people are kinda depending on you coming tonight..."

'Like Rinoa not throwing a fit', Inner Yuffie thought.

A happy Rinoa meant a Rinoa that wasn't being whiny, and everyone liked that.

"Why not" Kairi muttered, snatching her hand away as if Yuffie held a virus, her face burning scarlet. One fifty points.

"_Yes_!" Yuffie yelled, throwing her arms around her, just to see how much she could push the limits. This was a little too much fun; it ought to be illegal.

"Wha-I, uh, no! It's nothing! Don't think anything about it! I just want to…I mean, yes! I leave it to you!" Kairi yelped as she slipped away and out of sight.

Yuffie watched her jog/walk down the hallways, wondering just why _she_ found her so damn amusing.

What was _wrong _with her today?

Kairi walked quickly (a.k.a., ran like a crazy person) away from Yuffie, all flustered up like Sora around Riku. 'There's no reason to be acting like this, there's no reason to be acting like this, there's no reason to be-holy crap I can't breathe!'

When Yuffie had grabbed her hand, she felt...tingly.

"Auuuugh!" she wailed as she entered (threw herself dramatically) in the bathroom.

And then when she hugged her... "No!" she yelled, shaking her head. She was straight! Totally and completely straight! So what if she'd never liked a boy or whatever. She'd never liked anyone, for crying out loud! _She barely even knew Yuffie!_

"I don't like her or anything!" she said too loudly, even if no one else was in the bathroom.

That was just...wrong. She didn't like girls.

Or guys, for that matter. She'd never "gone out" with anyone before in her life, except when she was about five and conned Sora and Riku into playing House with her...but that was a totally different thing once you turned ten years old.

"I'm such a deviant! I've only even talked to her a few times and I'm acting like I have a crush on her! This is all her fault, turning me gay…Even though that's not possible…"

'Ugh. I think I should stop eating such sugary cereal in the morning...'

She did not like Yuffie. Nothing even close. If anything, she should be _annoyed_ by her. She was loud, obtrusive, and…and…

'Oh crap the bell just rang.'

Kairi was late to class for the first time in history. History class, that is, she was late almost every day what with getting thrown all over the place in the hallways. Mr. V was mad, but he was mad 24/7, so that couldn't really be helped. The problem was her head. She couldn't focus on anything. Everything Mr. V said about Traverse Town's huge stock crash reminded Kairi of Yuffie. Every time Sora tried to distract her by making dumb faces he reminded her of Yuffie. Closing her eyes she saw Yuffie's smiling face, saw her pale skin, saw her fingers tightly interlocked in Rinoa's. The lunch detention she received for not paying attention during the reading reminded her of Yuffie. 'Crap…I'm totally hopeless beyond all hope…'

* * *

Yuffie rolled her eyes as Irvine yapped and yapped and yapped. Honestly, he yapped too much. It was more than a little annoying. In fact, it was so annoying it made her wonder why she was even friends with the dumbass.

"Yes...yes, she's coming, already! Shut up about it! God you're so annoying sometimes! Keep acting like that and I'll guarantee she'll avoid you!" Yuffie felt like smashing the phone against the wall with the hopes that he'd feel it. Hanging up was a good option too, but whatever. He was annoying.

"Sorry, it's just that I really wanted her to come." Irvine said, using his Whiney Voice he used to win the bimbos over. Fortunately Yuffie wasn't a bimbo so the Whiney Voice just pissed her off more than she already was.

Usually she didn't pay much mind to anything Irvine said, seeing as how he was an idiot and all, but that last statement of his hit her like a brick wall. "Irvine, who was the last girl you went out with?"

"Leblanc."

"Ahuh. And before that?"

"Don't remember. Why?"

Now what in the world would Irvine want with Kairi? From what Yuffie knew of him, Irvine only went out with the type of girl you saw puking up in toilettes, not the kind of girl who blushed up a storm when you just touched her. "Irvine, why do you like Kairi? Do you even like her? She's not even your type, is she?"

There was a pause on the other end, then the most aggravating laugh ever. She wanted to kill the guy, really…

"Why does it matter? You're not her mother, Yuffie. Heck, you're not even her friend from what I've heard. Mind your business. Don't sigh like that I'm joking, good lord woman…so anyways, are you gonna pick her up or what? Someone took my car to get beer like an hour ago and hasn't shown back up, so I'm kinda slumped in that department. Seifer, I think. Kick his ass for me if you see him. Hello? Hello? Are you listening to me, I'm talking-"

"..."

"Yuffie, what the hell, answer me or I'll hang up-"

"_Oh no_! I forgot to give her directions on how to get here! Shit!"

"You idiot, Yuffie!" Irvine yelled on the other line.

"Hold on, I'll call her real quick!" Yuffie said, glad for the opportunity to hang up on him, even though she honestly didn't know Kairi's phone number or where she lived.

'Damn I'm so stupid...' she thought as she bounced around her room looking for a phone book. What a looser, resorting to a phone book. Did she even have a phone book lying conveniently around in her room?

"Aha!" she said, catching sight of a thick red book sticking up from out underneath her bed, conveniently far enough to be just in sight. What was a phone book doing under her bed? Okay, whatever, that didn't matter. She just needed Kairi's number. "This doesn't make me a stalker or anything. It's not like I'm going to _keep_ the number or anything! I'm not going to…uh…oh hey…"

Just as Yuffie pulled it out to scan for Kairi's name, a thought occurred to her. She didn't know Kairi's last name.

"_Dammit_!" she yelled, shaking the phone book as if it were the source of her problems. What good was the total convenience of having a random phonebook in her room if she didn't know Kairi's damn last name? Christ she was out of it.

"Hey idiot, you have a...visitor..." Tifa said, sticking her head in Yuffie's mess of a room with the typical look of disappointment. After all fifteen years of her life Yuffie had never had a clean room, and figured her sister should've known that by then. But whatever. Irvine was going to kill her. It wasn't just Irvine, either; Yuffie was actually kind of…looking forward to seeing Kairi outside of school. As much sense as that made.

Judging by the way she had said "visitor" Rinoa had come by.

"Sure, send her in here!" Yuffie commanded as she violently shook the cursed phone book.

A few seconds later, Rinoa slithered into the room, wearing the most ridiculous "outfit" Yuffie had ever seen.

"What...are you wearing?!" she asked, looking at Rinoa's cloth stuff. "What, we're going to a party, right? This is what you wear at parties! Unlike what you're wearing!"

Yuffie looked down at herself. She hadn't changed since school, so she was still wearing a tank top and shorts. "Well what if I didn't feel like changing" she muttered, making a point to fold her arms and pout like a baby. Maybe Rinoa would cut it out if she got a taste of it herself.

"So, is that redhead coming?" Rinoa asked as she rummaged through Yuffie's room probably looking for gum.

"Um, actually, I don't know her phone number...or where she lives..."

"I figured as much!" Rinoa declared proudly, drawing her chest out more than it already was. "So that's why she's here," she said, pulling Ellone out of nowhere.

"Ah?!" Yuffie gasped.

"Wh-where on Earth did she come from-"

"I dragged her away after school and asked (commanded) her to come!"

Ellone looked rather exhausted.

'Poor girl' Yuffie thought as Rinoa bothered her about something. In all honesty, Ellone sincerely looked ready to die at any moment.

"How would Ellone help us find Kairi?" Yuffie asked.

"Well, she does run the computer club, with its whole two members. She knows Kairi's phone number _and _address."

"Cool!" Yuffie said, happy Rinoa did something smart for a change. Kairi's number would be good to know in case she wanted to call her-in a platonic way! Yuffie already had a girlfriend; it wasn't like _that._ Even though Kairi was completely adorable and naïve and pliant, it wasn't like Yuffie had a crush on her. Not at all, not even a tiny one. Or a teeny one.

"Could you help us? Please?"

Ellone sighed, hanging her shoulders.

"Well, I don't know if Kairi really should be going to one of these high school parties. Plus, as an adult if I get caught helping her get here I'm pretty sure I can loose my job…"

"Oh, don't be a stiff" Rinoa joked, nudging the older girl with her elbow.

"You're going, aren't you? And what's with this 'adult' stuff-you're only 24!"

Ellone sighed once more.

"Alright, give me the phone...and 24 _is_ an adult, Rinoa."

"Yay!"

* * *

Kairi bit her nails as she watched Sora run excitedly around her room. She was going to a party. _She _was. She hadn't even been to the mall without her parents and she was going to a real life high school party. She felt sick. She _was_ sick…

Calm down, you two..." Riku said as he flipped through one of Kairi's old photo albums. "Kairi just sit down and stop freaking out. Sora stop that stupid dance! You look like Demyx!"

"But it's our first high school party!" Sora declared, still continuing to use one of Kairi's stuffed Moogels as a makeshift sitar.

"Were you two even invited?" Kairi wondered aloud.

"Nope!" Riku said, smiling.

"But we can't just let you go to some party and not have us there!" Sora said, dramatically placing his hands on his hips.

"Like you'd be able to do anything if something happened..." Riku muttered, rolling his eyes.

"What?! What was that?!"

In spite of herself Kairi laughed, watching as Sora attempted to noogie the older boy (to no avail). After their semi-fight the three of them had been back to normal. Better than normal in fact-they were getting along great. They filled Kairi in on the details of their sordid affair (as Tidus called it), and she filled them in on all the nothing she'd been up to since they started to drift apart. There was one thing she hadn't mentioned though…there didn't really seem to be a right way to mention it. How would she go about explaining that every time she thought of Yuffie, a girl, her heart would race? How would she tell them that she actually looked forward to seeing her? What would they think if she told them she thought she…liked Yuffie?

Kairi glanced at her watch, putting that tangent off for later. She was still nervous.

The party would be starting in half an hour.

And Yuffie hadn't called yet.

"Don't worry, Kai" Riku reassured, "they'll call, trust me".

"How do you know?" she asked suspiciously.

"Well... You know that Ellone lady? Well Yuffie's girlfriend Rinoa is dragging her along, or so she says." Riku said matter-of-factly, not bothering to mention how he knew all this when he didn't hang out with Yuffie or Mrs. Ellone at all.

'Girlfriend...' Kairi thought distantly as Sora hauled Riku off the bed and began dancing around the room with him. What would it be like to have a girlfriend? Would it be like any other friend, but deeper? Kairi and Selphie were pretty good friends, but Kairi didn't feel the same with her as she did with Yuffie. Just what exactly made her feel that way in the first place? She barely even knew the other girl…

"Hey Kairi?" Riku asked suddenly, coming to a halt and causing Sora to go flying cutely into her bed, "why are so wound up anyway? I thought you didn't even like Yuffie. You two friends now or what?"

"…Um? Yeah, we're getting to know each other a little better I guess."

Good thing she wasn't Pinocchio. "Just Friends" huh? How long could she go without telling her two actual best friends?

Just as she began to ponder her thoughts, the phone rang.

"_Squee_!" Sora yelled.

"Will you shut up, her parents are here!" Riku said, shoving a pillow at his boyfriend.

With slight hesitation, Kairi picked up the phone, wondering to herself if a skirt and T-shirt was appropriate party wear. Oh great, now she had another thing to worry about…

"Um...hello?"

"HELLO, IS KAIRI THERE?!" someone with a very loud, cartoon-sounding voice said.

"Yes" Kairi said, already starting to feel tired. Her eardrum probably imploded.

"HELLO MAY I SPEAK TO-Ow!! Yuffie, that hurt! What are you trying to-?"

There was a brief pause and some scrambling sounds, and then...

"Hey, Kairi."

She recognized the voice at once, even if it was marred by rough breathing.

"Hi Yuffie" she said, watching Sora and Riku dance. She noticed the effort it took her to not smile like an idiot while she clutched the phone with an eagerness she didn't really understand.

"Hey, where do you live? I'm gonna come with Rinoa and Ellone to pick ya up."

Another fluttery feeling. "You know that park with the broken slide near-"

"Oh, cool! I live right on the other side of that park! Meet us there!"

Kairi was about to hang up, but then a thought occurred to her as Riku shoved Sora in the closet, yelling about volume levels.

"Wait, Yuffie! Sora and Riku-"

"They're coming, right? Figured as much. You know, Kairi, this isn't a formal party or however you're thinking about it. People don't have to be invited. Did you honestly think that?"

"…"

"See you there Kairi."

Putting the phone back down on the receiver Kairi put her fingers to her cheeks, which must've been the same shade as her hair. Completely hopeless…

* * *

Kairi Sora and Riku stared at the car in disbelief. Somewhere off in the distance, a coyote howled.

"Um...Yuffie?" Kairi asked, breaking the shocked silence.

"Is this...your car?"

Yuffie shook her head as Rinoa began dancing in circles around Ellone. "It's Rinoa's."

"Well, it's, uh...great!" Riku said, shooting Kairi a laughing glance.

"Great?" Sora asked. "Great? It looks-"

Whatever Sora's comment about Rinoa's car was going to be was cut short by Riku stepping furiously on his foot. Laughing, Yuffie said," It's fine, I realize it's a little...okay, a lot small. And it has a few...well, a lot of dents. And one of the headlights is...um...missing."

For a moment, everyone stared at the Car From Hell in revered silence.

'I really don't think that thing's safe' Kairi thought.

'I really want to make out with Riku tonight' Sora thought.

'Why is Sora staring at me?' Riku thought.

'Kairi looks pretty cute in that skirt' Yuffie thought.

'I am so gonna score tonight' thought Rinoa.

'Why on Earth did I agree to come here again? Oh yes, adult supervision...' Ellone reminded herself. "Okay then!" Yuffie said, pumping her fist into the air.

"Who's ready to go? Oh yeah, and we're going to be sitting about two to a seat, so get comfortable."

* * *

- A few things about this story have changed. For instance, I was planning for Selphie or maybe Yuna to be in it more than they were. Well actually, they aren't in it at all. Now that I've read thorough certain parts of it, this story is okay, I suppose...FFX-2 is really pissing me off. I'm trying to find that damn Vegnagun bastard, but the stupid control panel thingys won't let me go down into that damn hole. Damn it all. This game sucks. I'm gonna beat it and sell it to one of my friends or something... 


	4. Trouble on her Account

Ch.4: Trouble on her account

-Nothing really to say. Except that it's fucking hot. Really hot. Supremely hot. And I have to go to Sunday school tomorrow. Not if I can help it. I'll say my head hurts or something. I really don't want to go. I'd rather sleep in than wake up at six and stay at the church until twelve. Honestly, who's going to be paying attention for all that time?? squeal I love Nagisa! She's so cute!

* * *

Kairi clutched the hem of her shirt as she glanced around. There were people everywhere. On the floor, on bookcases, on tables, on furniture...

'It's starting to look like I shouldn't have come...' she thought as she saw someone literally force beer down a girl's throat. The whole atmosphere at the place was generally uncomfortable. It was like Geography class, but people were (more) openly drinking beer.

'It's a big step, though! Just last week I wasn't comfortable being around a lot of other people…although I'm not all that comfortable now…' At least she had her friends with her- if she started to spaz out too much they would stick around.

"Well, see ya guys!" Sora said as he took Riku's hand. "We're gonna go make out somewhere!"

"Wait!" Kairi yelled, trying to catch up with them.

"You can't drag me here and just ditch me!"

It was no use. Before even a second had gone by, Sora had dragged Riku away into the shadows.

Kairi could feel her heart sink. She didn't want to be there anymore. She didn't even know why she agreed to go in the first place. 'Oh. Yes I do…' Well, by then her reason was making her feel foolish and incredibly peeved. She obviously decided to go so she could hang out with Yuffie outside of school. It's not like they even hung out at school anyway. She just wanted to get to know her better. To expand her social life. That was it. Too bad when the time rolled by she was too embarrassed and uncomfortable to even talk to the other girl.

Rinoa's presence didn't really make it any better.

'Only four hours left…only four more hours….'

"Hey, Kai!" Yuffie said as she "gently" slapped Kairi on the back, causing her nearly to choke.

"Let's go to the balcony! That's where Irvine is!"

"What about Rinoa and Ellone?" Kairi asked as she followed Yuffie through the mass of making out teens.

"Rinoa dragged her away to go meet some friends" Yuffie yelled over the music. "She sure acts weird most of the time, doesn't she?"

In all honesty the answer Kairi felt like giving wasn't exactly polite, and the thought of her thinking like that caused her to laugh, probably giving Yuffie the wrong impression (even though the offhand laugh did pretty much sum up her feelings). "Oh, uh, sorry! I didn't mean it…like that." Whoops.

"It's okay!" Yuffie said with a laugh, settling her hand on Kairi's shoulder and guiding her through the crowds like they were on some sort of mission.

"She does tend to get, how should I say, carried away."

'Like by asking weird questions' Kairi thought, trying to ignore the fact that they were standing so close. During the whole car ride, Rinoa was bombarding Kairi with stupid questions.

"Have you met Irvine? Are you straight? How old are you? Is that your natural color?" And "Is Ellone too quiet or what?" were just a few to name.

Fortunately, Yuffie stepped in and bailed Kairi out. Before it got even more out of hand ( Sora was too busy pestering Riku to notice, and even if he did he probably would've thought it was funny). And again, Kairi felt strange about the whole thing. 'I need to get my head on straight. Heh heh…that's funny.'

"Hey, Irvine!" Yuffie called, "I've got her for you! And don't be an ass like usual or I'll have to come steal her away!"

Kairi stepped out from behind Yuffie, nervously glancing around the oversized balcony. So far the whole thing wasn't really going how it played out in her magical fantasy land. "This" Yuffie said, pointing to a tall guy with a cowboy hat, "is Irvine, the one and only. After knowing him for a few minutes you'll want to kill yourself."

"Hey!" Kairi said, recognizing him at once.

"You're the guy who gave me that handkerchief!" She had to stop herself from saying "That creepy psycho rapist looking guy who was lurking in the freshman hallway even though he's obviously not a freshman." That would've been rude.

"Yeah, I guess so!" he said, smiling and shooting Yuffie a "Go away now" look that was totally unsubtle.

"Well, since you two already have so much in common, I think I'll just go try to pry Rinoa away from poor Ellone." Yuffie said, grinning and turning to walk away.

Kairi watch Yuffie descend the stairs, feeling a little disappointed. The only reason she came was to talk to her and there she was, stuck with Irvine, who she didn't know (for good reason). 'Sure, I ended up not saying anything anyways, but I don't really want to be alone up here with this guy. I'm totally gonna kill Sora for running off like that…'

"So my name's Irvine, as you might already know" he said, holding out his hand.

"Ehm...Kairi" she said, shaking his hand. Did he have to act like that? It was obvious he was faking it- insincerity leaked from his every syllable. Kairi realized exactly where it was she would've rather been.

"Let's go sit down" he said, pointing over to a table with chairs situated around it, along with partygoers in their various stages of drunkenness.

Once they sat down there was a bit of an awkward silence as he looked at her and she looked at anything and everything else. The way he was looking at her with that weird half-grin was telling- he was messing with her. She was an easy target and they both knew it. The smart thing to do would've been to just leave, but of course since Kairi had nothing even resembling a backbone she couldn't have even done that.

"So..." she said, trying to break the stifling mood, "is this your house?"

"Sure is" he said, leaning further across the tables and speaking softly. She guessed he was trying to make her lean in too so she could hear him better, but her nerves wouldn't let her do much more than just sit nailed to the chair.

"But my parents are over at a friend's. So I figured, why not throw a party?"

'Nice logic' Kairi thought as he fiddled with his hat, making another attempt at fiddling her. It wasn't really working. Not only was it too noticeable, but he was visibly taking enjoyment from how uncomfortable she was. Kairi made a mental note to never show up at one of his parties again no matter who asked.

"But after this school year's over I'll be old enough to get my own place..." he said, studying the scenes around him. Following his gaze, Kairi thought she saw Yuffie and leaned to the side a little to see who it was- but it was some guy who didn't look like her at all. 'I'm such a flake. There's really no need for all this…'

"And then I'll be able to throw all the parties I want!"

'I can't believe I went as far as to come here to be around her. This is so dumb' Kairi thought as Irvine continued to ramble about his various parties and drinking contests he'd participated in.

"So what do you like to do?" Irvine asked, leaning over the table to her again, this time scooting his chair closer as to invade even more of her personal space (not that she had much of it anyways, what with the dancing drunkards around her).

"Um...I like to read" she said as she scooted her chair back a bit. She may be an easy target but she wasn't going to just give in. The whole situation would've been better if Yuffie or Riku or even Rinoa showed up so she'd have an excuse to leave.

"Hmm" Irvine said, his face falling quite visibly. Nice, he didn't even try to hide his insulting thoughts. Jerk.

"Anything else? Like, exiting?"

Kairi thought about just what she considered exiting and what he would think was exiting. She had a feeling they weren't exactly matched. 'Unless he thinks finding out Yuffie lives by me exiting then I don't think this is going to get very far.'

Later she kicked herself for thinking that.

"Um...well I like to cook, I guess. Even though I'm not good at it. I like writing, too; I actually started-"

"That's fine, I guess" he said, leaning back, "not everyone can like exiting things."

'The nerve of him!' Kairi thought as he continued to talk about wild parties he had been to. What was it with this guy? Romulus raised by wolves had more social tact. Jeez.

"Uh, I need to go to the bathroom..." Kairi said nervously as she got up. 'Not that I intend to come back that is.'

"I'll show you...but I don't know if you'd want to go to the bathroom here, though".

"Why not?"

"Well, Zell just threw up in there...and Axel and Larxene have been in there all night...no telling what went on."

All the color drained from Kairi's face. So much for that exit strategy. Time for plan B…if there was one, that is.

"Um, well then, never mind..."

Irvine glanced suspiciously at her.

"Am I boring you? You look out of it."

"Oh no, I just...my stomach feels a little queasy."

"Maybe it's love!" he said with the weird laugh again.

'More like sickness' Kairi thought as he adjusted his hat some more.

"I'm gonna go find my friends" Kairi said, turning around. "It was fun, I guess, but I really should be going home soon or my parents will freak out."

That was a total boldfaced lie; her parents probably didn't even know she was gone, but any lie was a good lie.

Not only was she getting weirded out, but in all honesty she was tired, maybe from being around him for so long. Maybe he drained her life-force. 'Ew. I can't believe I just thought that. I really need to get some sleep if stuff like that is becoming funny.'

"Wait! You can't just run off and not say anything!" Irvine called, getting up to follow her. "Are you going to come again? I'm having another party soon, it's-"

"Uh, I don't really know; I'm kind of-"

"Ha ha ha! And then Rinoa had to eat _three _eggplants! Oh, hey Kairi!" Yuffie, followed by Riku and Sora, entered the room, with Sora looking slightly buzzed.

"Yuffie!" Irvine yelped, jumping back from Kairi like she had the plague.

"What were you doing?" Riku asked Irvine as Kairi stood slightly behind Sora.

"We were just talking! I was asking if she was going to come back is all, right? It wasn't anything else, right?"

Yuffie bore a slightly suspicious look on her face. Kairi wondered if the other girl felt the same way about Irvine as she did.

"Irvine...?"

"It was nothing, for real!" he chuckled as he turned to leave, waving off Yuffie and Riku nervously.

"Catch you later Kairi!"

Kairi said nothing as he went back up the stairs. Her head hurt. She was sick of the smell of beer and teenage sweat everywhere. She was thrilled that Yuffie stood up for her.

"Kairi...did anything happen?" Sora asked as he turned to face her, eyes half lidded.

"No" she said, shaking her head.

"Not really..."

"Good then!" he said, putting his hands on his hips once more and almost falling over.

"'Cause you know, if he did do somethin' weird, I'd beat 'im up for you!"

"You mean _we _would" Riku and Yuffie said, giving Sora a disapproving shake of the head. "You're too buzzed to even stand up straight, doofus."

"Heeeey! That's not fair! Why can't I beat anyone up?"

"'Cause you're thin as a twig" Riku said, shaking one of Sora's arms.

"Hey, mister I-was-a-fat-baby, I don't need to hear that from..."

"Kairi, c'mere" Yuffie said, pulling her away.

Kairi felt flooded with relief somehow as Yuffie took her by the hand and led her out of the house. 'It's not like I'm gay. It's not like I like her. I'm just happy that I have a new friend. Sure, my face is probably burning scarlet by now, but that doesn't mean anything. The, uh, outside is hot.'

"Now Kairi" she said once they were alone at the front of the house, "I'm not stupid. It looked like something was going on. Was Irvine doing something to make you uncomfortable? If he was we don't have to come back next Saturday."

The "Next Saturday" part was what made Kairi change her mind before she was even done thinking. Yuffie wanted to come back. With her. And everyone else, but that wasn't the point. She wanted to hang out again.

"No!" Kairi said, shaking her head.

"I don't want there to be any trouble on my account, I-"

"That's your problem, right there" Yuffie said, a serious look on her face.

"You're too timid. How'd you get that way? You try to make concessions for everyone and you end up with the short end of the stick. You need to grow a backbone, girl, or else people will walk all over you, especially slime like Irvine."

Kairi said nothing. She was mortified. Beyond that, even. Yuffie closed her eyes a moment and sighed.

"Look" she said, placing her hands on Kairi's shoulders, "Irvine's a friend of mine, more or less. But if he- or anyone else- does something to make you uncomfortable, just tell me. We're friends now or whatever, and lord knows you can't take care of anything yourself. Now I see why you keep those two idiot guys around."

Kairi blushed.

"What are you, my bodyguard?" she mumbled.

"Haha! Maybe I am!"

Despite herself, Kairi laughed at the other girl's audacity. She was so amusing.

Why was it that whenever Yuffie was around, she seemed to feel more like herself? Whatever that meant, anyway. Ever since she met Yuffie "Herself" seemed to be changing.

"Heeeeeeeeeeeey, Yuff!"

In a bit of a mood breaker, Rinoa showed up, completely drunk.

"Oh no" Yuffie groaned. "She drank. Now Ellone's gonna have to drive us home." Yuffie turned to Kairi and smiled at her, saying "this is why she can't land job interviews. Ridiculous, this girl is…"

"Hee hee...oh, hey Kairi!" A drunken Rinoa said, resting her elbow on the shorter girl's shoulder. Her breath fit in with the rest of the house.

"You're really cute, ya knooooow?? I'd be all over ya if I didn't already have a girl."

"Rinoa!"

"Wha? Oh, sorry, Yuff, you're right there! Don't be upset, you're pretty good-looking yourself!"

Rinoa turned to Yuffie, but fell over on the ground, flopping like a cadaver.

"Rinoa you fool" Yuffie muttered as she nudged her with her foot, "this is a little much, even for you."

"Where'd you put Ellone?" she asked as Rinoa's eyes fluttered open.

"Ellone?!" Rinoa asked, suddenly wide awake.

"Man, that girl can drink! She must've out-drunken my by at least four drinks!"

'Four drinks?!' Kairi thought in astonishment as Rinoa flopped back over on the lawn, drooling up a storm. Groaning, Yuffie rubbed her head.

"Okay, look" she said, standing up.

"I'm gonna go in there and wrangle up the group. You stay here with Rinoa and make sure she doesn't drown in her own vomit or something."

"Okay..." Kairi said as Yuffie ran pell-mell into the house.

'Well, this night certainly was eventful...' she thought as she heard the yelling and loud music from inside the house.

'I probably wouldn't have even come here if it weren't for Yuffie...'

Yuffie...

Kairi hugged herself and shivered.

It wasn't cold outside, it was her nerves.

Did she like Yuffie?

The question had been haunting her for longer than she though it would. For longer than it should've, actually.

'I don't know...' she thought.

'Maybe I like her in that friendly kind of way.'

Kairi glanced down at her feet where Rinoa was passed out, limbs scattered about like they were broken.

'Besides, she already has a girlfriend...'

"I mean, even if she didn't, that wouldn't mean anything right?" she asked no one.

"Right...?"

Kairi thought of when she'd first met Yuffie.

It was during first period theatre arts class (which she only took because it was a necessary elective).

The perfect class. For Yuffie, that was.

Kairi was far too introverted to be able to perform in front of a group with ease like Yuffie.

She was supposed to play one of the supporting roles in one of the plays, but when they would rehearse, she would just sit there and stutter, not able to make the words come out right. Pretty much like any other social situation, but ten times worse because she was getting graded on her incompetence.

"You need to relax" Yuffie would tell her when this happened.

"It's not like they're going to make fun of you" she said, in reference to the rest of the class.

"Heck, half of them are either asleep or going to forget about it in a few minutes anyways. Just calm down. You're gonna get an ulcer." Sure, Yuffie did have the tendency to get loud or pushy sometimes, but that didn't mean she was a bad person, right?

Kairi wondered if she would ever be like Yuffie was.

Bold, outgoing and funny.

Probably not.

The kind of person who hosts a chat room full of lonely people would never turn out to be either of those things. She wouldn't be able to do a lot of the things she wanted. 'But just what is it that I want…?'

The next thing she knew, Kairi was holding Rinoa's hair back as she threw up in the gutter.

* * *

The car ride home was silent.

And silent. With a little more silence added to that.

They had already dropped Riku and a tipsy Sora off at Riku's house, and every occupant in the car was left with their own thoughts. Rinoa, however, wasn't thinking. She was passed out in the passenger's side, reeking of various alcohols. Kairi wondered if she had to wok the next day or not.

Yuffie was hoping they wouldn't get pulled over, seeing as how she only had her learner's permit and was driving pretty horribly seeing as how she'd only ever gone driving once before. "I promise not to kill you Kairi. If we get in a wreck you can use Ellone as a human air bag, and I'll use Rinoa. Oh, wait, that might sound kinda heartless…I'll just pay attention to the road."

Ellone was thinking of what a bad influence she had been on those kids, drinking like she did.

And Kairi...

Kairi stared a hole into the back of Yuffie's head. All night she had been trying and trying to convince herself that she didn't like Yuffie in a romantic sense, but as time passed by her reasoning became less and less logical. 'I guess I just need some sleep' she thought as she closed her eyes to fuel her denial. She was ridiculous.

"Hey Kairi..." a quiet voice said.

Opening her eyes, Kairi asked what it was that Yuffie wanted. Bringing the car to a halt, she said, "I'm afraid we've run into some complications."

* * *

Ellone was asleep on the couch, and Rinoa on the floor (she still smelled horrible).

"No...way". Tifa snapped, putting her hands on her hips in a defiant manner that would've made Sora envious. Yuffie was trying to convince her to let the three of them spend the night, seeing as how the car had run out of commission.

"C'mon, Tif, you're going to work in an hour anyways! You're gonna be gone 'till twelve tomorrow, it's not like they're gonna keep you up or anything!"

"No!" Tifa continued.

"I know how you are, you're gonna have some kinda mass orgy or something..."

"Okay, just 'cause I'm gay doesn't mean I want to sleep with everyone here" Yuffie said, crossing her arms angrily.

Kairi sat quietly on the loveseat, trying not to call any unnecessary attention to herself.

This Tifa girl...Yuffie's sister- looked mad enough as it was. Twice already she'd shot her a death glare for no reason at all. 'Awkward…really, really…awkward.'

"Please, Tif-Tif!" Yuffie begged, crawling around on her hands and knees.

"I can't take them home, there's no gas in the car! And I don't know where Kairi and Ellone live! Please!" she wailed, shaking her sister's pant leg.

"Okay, okay, just get offa me!"

"Yes!" Yuffie said, jumping up and pumping her fist in the air. "Don't get too exited or else I might change my mind..." Tifa muttered as she gave Yuffie a kiss on the forehead and announced she was leaving.

Yuffie's grin grew as her sister left the house, saying something about flammability.

"Yuffie, one, Tifa, zero! So who's up for a mass orgy?"

"?!"

"Ha ha, I'm kidding, I'm kidding..."

Kairi yawned and checked her watch. It was almost eleven. Way past time she usually went to sleep. "Hey, do you want to stay the night here?" Yuffie asked as she pulled blankets out of the hallway closet, dumping them on top of the unconscious ones unceremoniously.

"Wha?" Kairi yelped. Stay the night at Yuffie's place? True, she wanted to, but that would be really pushing the envelope! 'I want to…but what if I freak out?! I'm freaking out right now! What do I do?!' Judging by the snickering coming from the other girl Kairi must've been blushing.

"You don't have to" Yuffie said, turning to try and hide her grin, "It's just that the car has no gas. And I don't know if you want to walk home in the dark like this. You obviously can't defend yourself so you'll probably end up getting attacked by a pedophile or something."

"I'll run away then."

"You? You'll be glued to the spot."

"I'll fight back?"

"You don't have enough guts or body strength for that."

"Call for help?"

"Everyone's asleep, and even if they weren't people are too busy caring about themselves to worry about others. You should know that by now."

"…"

"Give up? I'm desperate to have you here."

"I don't think my parents would let me..." Kairi said, angling her face so the next blush wouldn't show.

Even if they did barely know she existed, if she didn't come home one night it would defiantly make her parents wonder where she was.

"Call 'em and tell 'em you're at a friend's house" Yuffie said as if it were obvious as day. "I do it to Tifa all the time. Heh heh…stupid fool actually believes it, too…"

"Oh! Good idea! The first thing, not you lying to your sister. Could I use your phone?"

Yuffie gave Kairi her cell and watched amusedly as Kairi left a message saying she was at "Selphie's house because she had no way to get home."

"You know" Yuffie said as Kairi handed her back the phone, "you're a better kid than I am. I would've just stayed out without saying anything."

"Wouldn't your parents worry?" Kairi asked, looking genuinely concerned.

With a faint smile, Yuffie answered, "I...don't really think it would be so much of an issue with them anymore."

"Huh? So are they really liberal or something? Come to think of it…"

'I haven't seen them. She's never mentioned them. Maybe I shouldn't have brought it up.'

For a moment, Yuffie was silent. It was a little unnerving, seeing as how she was quiet about just as much as Sora was.

Kairi felt as if she should say something ('It's my fault!'), but couldn't find the right words to express how she felt. 'Ugh. I've been here for a few minutes and I've already messed up. Kill me now, please.'

"Well!" Yuffie said, snapping back into her personality, "Let's go to bed!"

"Um...where do I sleep?" Kairi asked as Yuffie headed up the stairs, stepping over the bodies.

"With me, duh."

"Don't look at me like I'm some kinda perv. I'll sleep on my floor and you can take the bed."

"You don't have to do that!" Kairi exclaimed. Why would she sleep on the floor of her own room? More importantly, _why did she have to be blushing all the time?_

Rolling her eyes, Yuffie said, "Look, you can't sleep in Tifa's room 'cause she doesn't like other people in there. And I doubt you wanna sleep on the floor with Rinoa or on the loveseat that's infested with Ellone. Correct? I'm not a spoiled rich girl so the house isn't really made for five people."

In all honesty, Kairi really didn't want to sleep on the floor or force one of the other girls off the couches, but it would be way too bold to just barge in Yuffie's room and sleep on the bed while Yuffie slept on the floor. Plus, the idea of sleeping anywhere near Yuffie made her nervous.

Yuffie walked back down the stairs and stopped in front of Kairi, causing her to avert her gaze. Just looking Yuffie in the eye made her feel giddy.

Yuffie bent down to Kairi's level and looked her straight in the eye.

"I like to look at people's eyes. When I'm talking to 'em, anyways. So; do you want me to force you to come upstairs?"

Kairi shook her head no and laughed. How could she be so up front with her feelings?

'I...wish I could be like that' she thought as Yuffie took her hand and led her out of the slowly darkening living room and up the stairs.

'If only I could...'

* * *

-Gah! I'm so tired! its only 11:07 PM, but I feel like I've been awake for ages. It's probably cause I've been typing so damn much. I like the way Kairi and Yuffie's relationship is progressing, its taking things a lot slower than I intended. and what of Ellone, you ask? She actually has a pretty big role to play, but right now my main focus is Kairi/Yuffie fluff. So anyways, my shoulder hurts. Gah. 


	5. Guitar Chords

Ch.5: guitar chords

-I really don't feel like doing an a/n right now, so screw this.

* * *

Kairi stared at Yuffie's room with wide eyes. It was the exact opposite of hers- a complete mess, but it still managed to look so…cool. On the walls were movie and band posters (most of which she didn't even recognize), and there were clothes spilling out of every orifice of the room. There was a giant rainbow flag on the door, and two bookcases filled with moves, videogames and CD's.

"It's a little cramped" Yuffie said as she threw stuff off her bed, "but I can just move some stuff and I'll be fine".

"Eh...okay, thanks" Kairi muttered as she climbed onto Yuffie's bed as Yuffie sorted out some space on the floor. Kairi didn't even recognize any of the movies Yuffie had. 'Maybe that's a sign I need to get out more?'

'I wonder what Rinoa would have to say if she saw me in her girlfriend's bed?' Kairi thought as she stared up at the ceiling, which was also covered in photos and pictures.

One in particular caught her eye.

It was of Yuffie, who looked about five, and Rinoa, who looked a little younger than Yuffie did now, and a man and a woman.

"That's us and my parents before they died" Yuffie explained once she caught sight of Kairi staring at it. "I don't remember who took it, though. Ugh! Look at me, wearing overalls! I swear to God my parents put me in that. If it were up to me I'd have been wearing fishnet stockings and a barrette.

"How...did they die?" Kairi asked silently, dodging Yuffie's bad attempt at a jest.

"Well, it's a little personal, even for me. Sorry, but I don't feel like explaining to someone I don't know about my dead parents."

"I-I'm so sorry!" Kairi exclaimed, "I didn't mean to intrude, I-"

"No, it's fine" Yuffie said, laughing. "I'm joking! Jeebus, you should've seen the look on your face! I'll tell you, Kairi, but just give me some time. It's kind of hard now."

For an instant Kairi felt like she'd cry. The look on Yuffie's face was so moving. The whole time she'd known her, or whatever it was they were doing with each other, Kari had never seen the other girl look so…lonely. She'd never seen much genuine emotion at all on her face, honestly. She just seemed like a goofball; Kairi didn't know she had so much to deal with all by herself. 'No, that's just my wishful thinking. She has Rinoa and Tifa to help her. I'm the one who's alone.'

"Things happened kind of fast. We-me and my sister- didn't know they were dead for a few days. She was just taking care of me in the house, thinking they were just going to show up again. Even after we were told, we didn't really believe it. It took a while, but...I guess I've come to grips with it. People die, that's just how it is. At first it was pretty bad, what with us being in foster care and stuff, but once Rinoa turned eighteen we just lived by ourselves. Even now sometimes it's…overwhelming. I barely even knew them. I wonder what my life would've been like if they were still alive. I wonder what I'd be like."

Kairi sat up in Yuffie's bed and looked at her. She didn't know whether or not to say something- if there was even anything appropriate to say, that is.

Yuffie had her head turned, so Kairi couldn't tell if she was crying or not. "Yuffie..."

"Aw, no one likes to hear that sappy kindsa stuff! So, do you like music?"

Kairi nodded, wondering how Yuffie could just change her mood so suddenly like that. There was no way she could've just gotten over it that fast; she must've been putting on a brave face because Kairi was there. 'Why would she do that…?'

"You know" Kairi blurted, "my parents...I don't have any either. Well, I do, but...they ignore me. They act like I don't even exist. Whenever I'm in the same room with them they won't even talk to me. I try to talk with them, but..."

Kairi paused as tears formed in her eyes.

"I think...they hate me. I h-have to remind them that I need money for lunch or new clothes or anything! Sometimes when I'd go over to Sora or Riku's house for a long time, they wouldn't even notice! E-even their friends didn't know they had a daughter until they'd come over and see me! All they care about is my sister, and she's not even-!"

Kairi was crying now, but she didn't feel embarrassed in the slightest. If Yuffie wouldn't bring herself to cry then Kairi would do it for her.

"It just makes me so mad...when I see other kids who supposedly hate their parents when all their parents do is care about them! I would give anything to hear my mom say that she cared about me, or ask me how my day was! B-but she doesn't! She doesn't even care! I could die and she wouldn't notice!" Through her reign of tears, Kairi could hear a gentle strumming sound. Looking up from the bed, she saw it was Yuffie playing her guitar.

Looking up at Kairi for an instant before looking back down at the chords, Yuffie smiled and said:

"It makes me mad, too."

Kairi felt more tears stream down her face as Yuffie began to play again, gently strumming her fingertips over the chords of the guitar. The music was soft, but somehow sorrowful.

It was as if Yuffie felt Kairi's pain as her own, and was expressing that through her music.

Kairi laughed quietly. Yuffie stopped and looked up, her bangs falling all over her confused face.

"What? What is it? My guitar need tuned…?"

"No, no, it's just..."

Kairi couldn't put her feelings into words. They were too pure, too perfect to be crudely molded, and that's was just fine with her. She didn't want the night to end, she wanted to be able to stay the same forever, to be able to let quiet tears of remorse and bitter realization run down her face without feeling shame. Yuffie stood up and propped her guitar against the wall.

Smiling, Kairi closed her eyes and let herself fall onto the bed. If her life would ever end, she wished it would end now, so she could go knowing that for once in her life she felt free, for once in her life she felt happy.

She could feel Yuffie crawling on the foot of the bed but didn't care.

The whole world could've collapsed around her right then and there, and she wouldn't care.

And, as Yuffie's lips met hers, it did.

_I don't know anything at all and I'm somebody else It could take years to find you, it could take years to find myself And I don't need to hear your answer I just need you to see That I think it's time to break down these walls that we throw up Am I still breathing have I lost that feeling Am I made of glass 'cause you see right through me._

_

* * *

_

Kairi's eyes fluttered open. Gross…she'd drooled all over her own face (she'd told herself she'd stop sleeping on her stomach, but it never turned out that way) and all over her giant rainbow pillow. Rainbow pillow?

'I don't have a rainbow- oh…oh, no…crap….'

Once she realized it wasn't her pillow, she pieced together where she was. And what had happened. And what she wanted to happen.

'What time is it?' Kairi thought, sitting up in Yuffie's bed and rubbing her eyes to oblivion. It was light out...morning.

Morning?

Sitting bold upright and looking around the room, she realized Yuffie was gone. 'Oh my gosh!' she thought as she brought her hand to her lips.

'She kissed me! I kissed her! We kissed each other!'

For a moment Kairi sat there in a panic, not knowing whether to run downstairs and out the door, or to run downstairs and into Yuffie.

So they'd kissed. Nothing else happened! It didn't really mean anything! "Oh, that's the lamest excuse I've used yet. Of course it meant something. It still does mean something- I'm totally gay. I'm a big huge…gay person. Ugh. She has a girlfriend! I have…a bunch of excuses of why I shouldn't even be talking to myself about this! Good God I'm _talking_ to myself!"

She liked Yuffie kissing her. She wanted to kiss her again. And again and again and all the agains she could think of. 'I guess that settles it…no more trying to write it off now. I like her. Well, this is great. It's not like I can talk to her or anything…'

Then, as if on cue, the door opened and Yuffie walked in, full of bounce and acting completely normal. "Oh, you're already awake!"

She was carrying a tray with a bowl of frosted flakes on it, a light-saber spoon sticking out at an odd angle. She was wearing the same clothes as last night. "Eh...I'm not the world's best cook, so I figured I'd just bring you breakfast in bed Yuffie style."

Setting the tray down on the foot of the bed, Yuffie said "Ellone bought one of those gas jug thingies and filled the car up so I could take her home. Rinoa, however, is still asleep on the floor." She wasn't even looking at the other girl- it was like she was making it an obvious point to gaze at the tray like it was some long lost lover.

Kairi stared down into the bowl of frosted flakes, not able to look Yuffie in the eye.

What would she say? 'Hey, did you know that was my first, and probably last, kiss'?

Not likely. 'God I'm such a looser…'

Yuffie stretched and smiled, this time glancing down at Kairi before shooting her sight to the window, which didn't even have it's blinds drawn. She wasn't doing a very good job at all.

"Well. It's nine in the morning, Tif will be back in a few hours, and there's plenty of gas in the car so I can take you home whenever you want."

She got up and turned to go through the door, snagging the tray as she left.

"Yuffie?"

"Huh?"

"Oh, uh, nothing, I just…thanks, I guess."

Yuffie had her hand on the doorknob, her shoulders hunched and, again, wasn't even stealing a glance at Kairi.

Kairi's hands were clinched to the little dumb cereal bowl, angry that she didn't know what to do or what to say. Why had Yuffie even kissed her? To tease her? Was she some kind of sick science project? 'Is she just like Irvine? Just messing around with my head?'

"…."

"Um, well, I need to get dressed and stuff…I didn't really get any sleep last night…" Yuffie mumbled, rubbing the back of her neck and laughing nervously. Nervously?

"You know Kairi…I'm having this little thing next in a few weeks… just with some people I know…do you think…I mean, I'll call you or whatever…I guess…"

She glanced back, smiling that usual smile, only with much more falter. Their eyes met and both their blushes deepened.

"Good night, good morning, good-bye Kairi."

"See you later." No more words came out as Yuffie left and quietly shut the door behind her.

_I don't know who I am and you're the only one who sees that I can't ask these questions that cannot be answered today And even if everything goes wrong and we start to fall apart I will understand where you are, I will understand this by myself._

_

* * *

_

"Ha ha! That was one wild night, eh Yuff? Irvine really tops himself every time, right?" Rinoa asked as she and Yuffie drove to Ellone's house the next day, the former more exited than the latter.

"Yeah, sure..." Yuffie said, not at all interested in what the other girl was saying. "I guess. I didn't even see what you were doing; you were all over the place. And I, um…yeah, it was fun. We should go again."

Rinoa leaned across the seats and kissed Yuffie on the forehead, laughing about something the other girl didn't really have the energy to think was funny. In fact, she didn't have the energy to think anything was funny at the moment (there are firsts for everything).

Kairi.

She couldn't get her out of her mind. That red hair, that small body, those tiny lips…

This was bad. She'd kissed Kairi even though she was going out with Rinoa, whom she cared about deeply. She also cared about Kairi a lot. A lot more than she should've, really.

Defiantly bad.

She wasn't going to deny it, she liked Kairi.

But that didn't mean she didn't not like Rinoa.

Sure, Rinoa was a bit (a big) of an airhead, but Yuffie still had feelings for her. Rinoa was her first girlfriend, her best friend ever, her everything. But then there was Kairi. She was pretty sure Kairi liked her back.

After all, if she didn't, she wouldn't have kissed her back, right? Kairi didn't strike her as the kiss and run type. Or the kiss type, honestly.

'I really need to stop this train of thought. It's already gonna suck balls having to see her in school tomorrow…'

Pondering her thoughts, Yuffie drowned Rinoa out as they continued their drive. Every time she thought of Rinoa, or even heard her voice, Yuffie felt her chest caving in.

'How could I?' she thought miserably as Rinoa gushed something about Ellone.

'I've never cheated on anyone in my life!' she thought, gazing out the passenger side window.

Would she tell Rinoa?

'I think I have to' she thought as Rinoa sang along with the radio, nudging Yuffie with her elbow and urging her to sing along.

'She certainly didn't do anything to be cheated on. I can't believe...'

As Yuffie wallowed in her thoughts, Rinoa pulled the car to a halt. "Yuffie?"

"Huh?" She felt like crying. She cheated on someone she loved. All in all, she felt pretty damn low. This was one of those things that didn't go away, either. It would eat and eat away at her until there was nothing left and she would have to tell the truth. She couldn't even bear to look Rinoa in the eye- it was like she knew just by looking at her. 'I'm completely despicable…'

"Are you okay? You've been all quiet all day."

"M' fine."

"….Are you mad at me for getting drunk at the party? If I'd known it was such a big deal I wouldn't have done it, you know. I don't want you to be mad over something like that."

"…."

"Yuffie, I love you. What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong! God, Rinoa, I just…I'm just tired since last night, alright? I'm sorry. Just let me wake up a bit, okay?"

Rinoa didn't say anything. The poor girl looked confused. That's when the waterworks did start. Turning her head Yuffie pretended to have something stuck in her eye. She was officially an ass. A big, Irvine-sized ass.

"…."

"You can just go get Ellone, Rinoa, I'm sorry. I'm just sleepy or whatever."

"…."

"Seriously; It's alright. I'm not mad."

"Why won't you even look at me?"

"….Ellone's probably waiting if you called her, you know."

"Wait here!" Rinoa snapped, throwing the car door open. "I just try to ask why you're upset and you feed me crap about being tired. Bullshit. I know you better than that and you know it. When you're feeling mature enough to talk about it tell me why don't you?"

The car door slammed kinda hard. It was only nine in the morning and already Yuffie was nodding off.

* * *

_And I don't need to hear your answer I just need you to feel Like there are no boundaries at all Today, I don't mind today I don't matter today And how far have we come, too far to throw away the past Will you be there waiting for me I have to ask what we are, if I ask today it just won't last So I'll be here waiting for you Will we ever feel this good again?_

_When Kairi's eyes opened Yuffie's fingers were intertwined with hers, her eyes staring down at her with a mystified expression, undoubtedly the same one she had on her own face. That wasn't exactly what she wanted to be seeing- she didn't have any clue what had just happened. Yuffie's body on hers, Yuffie's lips on hers. Oh God. _

"…"

_Yuffie's eyes widened a bit and she leaned upwards, rolling off of Kairi, making some indistinguishable sound. Oh great, Kairi was completely lost and so was she. Yuffie was _supposed _to know what she was doing. She was the experienced one. She wasn't the same as Kairi- she knew what she wanted and she was confident and…_

_Without another glance at Kairi, Yuffie slid off her bed and left the room, silent as stone. Yuffie was never silent. "…."_

_For what must've been forever, Kairi laid in the same position, staring at the door and wondering just what the hell she'd done. "…Hopeless…"_

_Brushing her fingers over her lips, she couldn't really find any reason to not want to go to another one of Irvine's parties. _

* * *

-I realize this chapter is short, but it would've lost its magic if id have just dragged it on forever. so...that was actually a very good chapter. Has anyone read that one manga, Mars? It's very good. One of my friends cried when she read the first volume. For some reason, as the story goes on, Kairi's becoming more and more like me. Weird. At first it was only a little, but now its like we're practically the same person. The song used is Made Of Glass by Trapt. Not me. 


	6. Of Yuffie and Kairi

Ch.6: Of Yuffie and Kairi

-bewaaaaaaaaaaaag, another a/n! I should have internet soon, so this story's gonna be posted relatively soon. ah, yes, this is my first story where ive actually typed it out instead of writing on paper. This Utada Hikaru CD is awesome. Exodus '04, I believe? Song number 7 reminds me of this story, for some reason...read my other fic(s)!!! I'm downloading music right now and it's taking forever...this U.H. song says it needs 36 hours to load...

* * *

Kairi laughed as Yuffie smashed a Fancy Ketchup packet in her friend Squall's face, following up with some Fancy Mustard. "_Yuffie! _Would you please stop, for the love of God?! Where the hell are these things even coming from?! This is a new jacket, by the way. Why don't you fucking get a life and actually use the damn packets?" 

For about a week now, Kairi had taken up residence at Yuffie's lunch table. To her, this was a huge step- not only was she sitting in the vicinity of Yuffie, but about a dozen other people she didn't know and would usually avoid. Small steps turning into big ones.

At first she thought the fact that they had kissed would make things different. This being said, the next Monday at school she took the effort to try to avoid Yuffie to no avail. Yuffie found her, teased her, and persuaded her to hang out with her. Nothing really changed. In fact, if anything was changing it was Kairi.

Yuffie acted like nothing happened between them for whatever reason, so Kairi did too. She was relieved a bit, but then somewhere inside her she was a little upset. Did the kiss not mean anything to Yuffie? Was she just some other random girl to her? 'It's not really all that important now. We're still…friends, I guess, so nothing needs to change. I guess.'

Yuffie still messed around with her, and she still tried to keep her audacious behavior in check.

But, if not their attitudes toward each other, something else did change...

Kairi's feelings toward Rinoa. Now whenever she'd see Rinoa pick Yuffie up from school, she'd feel a vicious stab of jealousy. It wasn't that Kairi hated Rinoa, she just hated the fact that she was with Yuffie.

For Kairi, Yuffie was pretty much the first person she'd ever liked. It seemed a little unfair that she'd already been taken. There was no hiding or trying to deny it now; Kairi really liked Yuffie. And she couldn't help but feel that Rinoa was up to something. She wasn't sure if it was her new jealous streak or what, but for some reason Rinoa seemed to be...hiding something.

'It's not really my concern anyway' she thought as Squall's girlfriend Quistis chased Yuffie around the table, 'Yuffie knows what she's doing...' Despite that, though, she just couldn't help but feel a little like she was getting the short end of the stick. As usual.

"Hey you!" someone called. Turning around in her seat, she saw it was another of Yuffie's friends, Tattoo Face.

Also known as Zell.

"Sorry about the whole making fun of you thing" he said, sitting down by her. Apparently since she was sitting at his table she was now his friend. She didn't see how that worked, but whatever. It was better than being picked on.

"It's fine" Kairi muttered.

"So anyway" he whispered as he leaned in to her, "you like Yuffie, right?"

"Wh-what?!" Kairi said, causing almost everyone (except Yuffie and Quistis) to look over at them.

"Oh come on, you're always staring at her and you blush like crazy when she actually notices you..."

Kairi blinked owlishly. "Well...um, I don't hate her..."

Clapping loudly, Zell laughed.

"Yeah, I figured as much. But, you know, Irvine has a thing for you, too..."

Kairi frowned but said nothing.

'Who cares what Irvine likes?' she thought bitterly.

'That guy's a weirdo...'

Zell cocked his head.

"Helloooo? You deaf or somethin'? What do you think? Irvine's showing up at Yuffie's concert this weekend. He says he feels really bad for what happened...whatever that may be."

'I bet he only said that to try and con me over...it's not like I'd ever go there again...oh, what? Concert?'

"Concert? What concert?" Dodging another one of Quistis' open-hand slaps, Yuffie grinned and gave her the thumbs-up. "Didn't I tell you the other night? I'm having a concert- I'm in a band with these idiots."

"Keep insulting me to my face and I'll kick your ass" Leon snapped, carefully removing the condiment collage off his jacket.

"You're in a band?" Kairi gasped, her eyes shining. That's so cool! With who? What do you do?"

"The idiots is who. Leon, Seifer and Demyx. Demyx, however, goes to Twilight Town High, so it's a bit of a pain getting him to show up to practices. I didn't tell you this?"

"No!"

"Really? What about the other weekend-"

Blushing suddenly, Yuffie turned to Leon and continued to make fun of him. Kairi followed suit.

Seeing the look on Kairi's face, Zell said, "Hey, Yuffie! You goin' to Irvine's party tomorrow?"

"Why the hell does that matter?"

"Oh, I dunno, just _thiiinking_."

With this, he glanced at Kairi and winked so noticeably everyone looked at her like they were sharing some joke.

Speaking of jokes, there was someone she'd kind of fallen out of touch with. 'I need to talk to those two…'

* * *

With an auspicious sigh, Rinoa leaned back on the loveseat in Ellone's apartment, rubbing the back of her head in frustration. Something was going on with Yuffie and she just wasn't telling her what it was. For days now it was eating away at Rinoa that she didn't know what was wrong. "Is it Tifa? Is she bothering you about us?" 

"No, it's nothing, Rinoa, honest. Can we please stop talking about it? I'm fine now, see?" No matter how much she said that Rinoa knew it was a total load of crap. Yuffie was acting different. Quiet. True, Rinoa was always the more talkative of the two, but that didn't mean that Yuffie was little Mrs. Silent Treatment. 'She's hiding something from me…'

"Rinoa? Did you come over for tea or something? What's wrong? I kind of have to leave soon to get to the Club Officer meeting for the school."

But if she was hiding something what was it? The two of them never hid anything from each other- they were so close. 'Are we really? How close are we if every two seconds I keep suspecting something? This is driving me nuts.'

The last thing Rinoa wanted was to loose Yuffie. She loved her, she needed her. Yuffie was everything to her. 'So why the hiding everything…?'

"Rinoa? What's wrong? I don't really know if now's the time for this…" Ellone stopped short, seeing the tears on Rinoa's face. "Oh, God, Ellone, I'm worried about Yuffie! She's acting so different, and I don't know what's going on and…"

"Yuffie?" Ellone asked frowning a bit. "That's what you're worried about? She's acting fine at school; there's no need for you to be crying like this-"

"She's fine at school?"

"As far as I've seen, yes. I mean, since I only show up after school for the computer club I wouldn't see her every day, but lately she's been coming around with Kairi a lot."

"…Really?"

"Yeah. Look, Rinoa, now really isn't the time, I have to-"

"No, that's fine, that's fine…Can I come back tomorrow?"

"Here? To my place?"

"Yeah."

"…." Rinoa was so busy worrying about Yuffie that she didn't catch the look on Ellone's face. Turns out, she'd be seeing a lot of it in a while.

* * *

"Um, Sora?" 

"Yo! What's up, Kaaairi? You need to borrow money or something?"

"Please tell me why I would be asking you for money."

"I dunno, to buy some more stuffed moogels or something like that? That whole girl thing."

"Is Riku there?"

"Isn't he always? We're in the middle of some nude body sculpting, but your phone call kinda put that to moot."

"…."

"Joking, joking, I wish there was nudity…we're just watching Speed Racer. Why, what's up?"

"Put me on speakerphone."

With a deep breath, Kairi closed her eyes, waiting for the subtle click to announce her presence to the rest of Sora's living room. She couldn't believe what she was about to do.

"Hey Kairi" Riku shouted above the Speed Racer theme song, "spill it. We're about to do some nude body sculpting."

"Really?"

"Shut up, Sora, let her talk. Christ."

"Um, I, uh…I'm going to one of Yuffie's concerts. She's in a band."

Neither Riku nor Sora had anything to say to this. There was some mumbling, and Speed Racer's volume was cut in half. She felt a little cornered.

"You're probably wondering why I've been spending so much time around her, right?"

"…."

"Well, um…you see, she and I…we kind of…or I kind of…like her. A lot. A-and I don't know if she likes me back but we kissed and-"

"_Woah! She kissed you?!"_ Riku and Sora yelled in synch, nearly blowing her eardrums out. "She kissed you? Duh she likes you! Why didn't you tell us you were a lesbian? We should've known, Riku, she likes The Postal Service. Only lesbians like them."

"Yeah, that's true. They totally suck."

"…."

Kairi didn't know whether to be embarrassed or to laugh at the fact that they were so accepting.It wasn't like she expected them to be against it, seeing as how they were gay, but still; she was expecting at least…well, she didn't know, honestly. Just something scarier.

"Huh. That's cool, I guess. It kinda sucks you didn't tell us sooner. But doesn't Yuffie have some older girlfriend? Rinoa or whatever? So what about her?" Riku asked. That's when Kairi's thought process took a turn for the negative. What about Rinoa?

* * *

"_Couldn't sleep so I went out walking. Thinking about us, and hearing us talking. And all the things I should've said echo loud inside my head."_

Kairi was head over heels. She stood off to the side of the miniature makeshift stage, simply in awe. Yuffie was singing. Good singing. Incredibly.

"_I've seen something falling from the sky. I'm so sad I made the angels cry; tears from the moon fall down like rain. I reach for you- I reach in vain. Tears from the moon…tears from the moon…"_

"This song sucks!" Sora, jibed, bobbing to the music. "I'm totally not enjoying myself! I'd rather eat nails and kill myself! Quick, Kai, who am I?"

"Shut up, I have food poisoning!" Riku whispered, nudging him with his elbows. "It's not my fault this place sells nachos that went out of commission in the last decade…"

Kairi loved her friends. She loved that song, she loved Yuffie and her band. She loved the fact that she was there at all, standing in a crowd of no more than thirty people at some youth club "concert hall" gazing up at the girl she liked. A lot.

"_It just ain't fair; this thing called loving. When one's still there and the other feels nothing. I would've done anything for you. I still love you; baby I adore you. All day I keep from falling apart, but at night when the sky gets dark tears from the moon fall down like rain. I reach for you, I reach in vain."_

Rinoa wasn't in the audience. Rinoa didn't show up at Leon's house before everyone left. She didn't even call. 'But I'm here' Kairi thought, looking up at Yuffie and thinking about just how much she'd changed. How much everything had changed. In a few weeks everything about her was different. She actually had something that could've somewhat been called a backbone. She was getting closer to Yuffie, and even to Sora and Riku. She wanted to tell the other girl everything, everything about her. What she loved, what she hated. Her craptastic parents, her insecurities, and even her sister. She wanted Yuffie to know everything about her. 'I want her to be able to talk to me like that too. I want to know about her parents.'

"_Stop! Stop haunting me. It should be easy- as easy as when you stopped wanting me. Tears from the moon…tears from the moon…"_

Looking up, Kairi tried to catch Yuffie's eye. The place wasn't very full, so she could've just called out to her and she would've noticed. But silence seemed to be the better option. Almost immediately, Yuffie looked back at her and grinned.

* * *

Usually Yuffie went out of her way to be an unconformist. She spread her peanut butter and jelly on the same slice of bread, she liked girls and she was good in math- all things that most other people would deem as a little odd. So, for Kairi's sake, she felt she should be particularly crazy just to set the mood. Why ruin her reputation? The night had barely begun and already she'd thrown an egg at Leon (only to be hit in the stomach by Quistis, who had the strength of 80 men). Now a selective few members of the gang were off to Irvine's house, meaning she still had opportunity to act like a jackass. Why not utilize Zell's new car? Yuffie squealed in delight as she stuck her head out of Zell's car window, ignoring the fact that it was probably a dangerous thing to do. 

"Yuffie, you're going to get decapitated if you keep that up!" he yelled for probably the fifth time so far. "I swear to God If I get some sort of ticket for that I'm kicking your ass. Since you're a huge dyke you count as a guy, so don't think I won't!"

Laughing, Kairi pulled her back into the car.

"He's right, you know, that's dangerous" she advised. "I think my social life would take a bit of a halt if you had your head removed."

Yuffie only laughed.

It was good to be spending time with Kairi...but she knew it was wrong. She wasn't going to try anything just 'cause Rinoa was still at home, but still... the fact remained that she _wanted_ to try something.

Yuffie watched Kairi stare out the window and smiled. "Hey! This is probably the first time you haven't yawned when we went somewhere!"

It was true. Almost right at nine-thirty Kairi would start to get tired.

Smiling, Kairi said, "Well, since I met you, my sleeping schedule has been thrown off-balance, I guess. I used to go to bed at eight."

"You had a bedtime?"

"Yeah! What's wrong with that?"

"…How old are you, fourteen?"

"That's not funny."

"Yeah it is."

"We're here, guys", Zell said, stepping out of the car.

"Ah, another of Irvine's infamous parties!" Yuffie said as they all exited the car. "I haven't even talked to this ass in a few weeks, I wonder why he even invited- oh, yeah, that's why…you alright, Kai?" she asked, using the "Kai" just because she knew it made her embarrassed.

"Well, I have been dragged here billions of other times before..."

Also true. For quite a while now, Yuffie had dragged Kairi Rinoa-style out of her house and into Irvine's. At first it bothered Kairi because of Irvine's strange behavior that one night, but ever since then he seemed to change. Now his main focus seemed to be asking Kairi questions about herself, all which she dodged answering.

Fortunately, Yuffie had stepped in and bailed her out, as usual. Thankfully, every time Kairi was left with Irvine, Yuffie would come get her within minutes. Irvine noticed this.

"Do you want to split up or what?" Yuffie asked as Zell mingled with the thing known as the House of Irvine.

"No" the younger girl responded, remembering that Rinoa wasn't going to be there. 'I'm not encouraging that Yuffie be a two-timer. I just want her to forget about Rinoa.'

All the time she was spending around bolder people must've been rubbing off on her- Kairi's thoughts seemed to be getting darker and darker. For her, anyway.

'With her gone I can actually talk to Yuffie without being interrupted...'

Yuffie had called Rinoa to take her along, but Rinoa said she had other plans (AKA work...but what work would that be? She had no job, as far as Kairi had been told).

"Alrighty" Yuffie said as she led the way. "I have a feeling tonight's going to be an eventful night. You get that feeling, Kairi? Speaking of eventful, where are your tag along boys? Probably making out or something…we should totally barge in on Sora's house tonight just to freak them out. It'll be fun; I have a gorilla mask you can wear."

* * *

"So, you lied to Rinoa and said you were nineteen?" Kairi asked over the blaring music. 

"Oh yeah!" Yuffie laughed, spying some people playing twister. "I met her in some gay teen support group thing a while ago. In all honesty I'm surprised she fell for it- I don't look nineteen at all. Sad thing is, she only ever found out my real age recently..."

The smile Yuffie had on her face was crushing. The whole situation really wasn't fair. Should Kairi even have a reason to feel so jealous? Or did she have the right to speak up and tell Yuffie how she felt? 'She must like me even a little bit; she did kiss me after all…'

But no matter how much she and Yuffie hung out Kairi couldn't really tell what the other girl was thinking. Sure, she put her arm around her and hugged her all the time, but Yuffie was touchy-feely with everyone. Just because it meant something to Kairi didn't mean it meant something to her.

"...How long have the two of you been dating?" Kairi asked feeling her heart loose height along with the volume of the music.

"Eh...about 7 months, I'd say."

"..."

Kairi fiddled with her mystery drink™ on the table as the volume of the music soared to new heights.

Sure, she knew Yuffie was happy with Rinoa, and when it came down to it that's what really mattered, but...

'I know she's hiding something' she thought, thinking of the black-haired girl. 'And I know that I want to date Yuffie. I like her as more than a friend. I'm not ashamed to tell that to Sora or Riku, but what about the rest of the world? Would I ever be able to be as open about it as she is? Yuffie and I are two different people- would we even be compatible as more than friends? Would I even be feeling these kinds of things for any other girl?'

For some reason, Kairi felt as if something bad was about to happen, and Rinoa would be the root of that very problem.

The music became slow, and Kairi smiled faintly. This was the song Yuffie played on her guitar the night they...

"Dance with me?"

Looking up from Mystery Drink™ in her hands, she saw a smiling Yuffie holding her hand out to her. "C'mon" she continued, "I've never not danced during a slow song, and I don't want to start now. Rinoa won't be mad, she'll be glad. It's an upstanding tradition."

"Is this just an excuse to dance with me?" Kairi laughed as she got up.

"Eh...maybe."

_She seemed dressed in all of me, stretched across my shame, all the torment and the pain...__leaked through and covered me. __I'd do anything to have her to myself, just to have her for myself. __Now I don't know what to do; I don't know what to do and she makes me sad._

Kairi could feel Yuffie's light grasp as she clasped her hands together at her waist.

Putting her hands together at the back of Yuffie's neck, Kairi felt herself tensing up in hesitation.

Should she be doing this?

Should she...?

"You look in conflict" Yuffie said, noting how rigid she was. "You're so stiff."

_She is everything to me; the unrequited dream. __The song that no one sings; the unattainable. __She's a myth that I have to believe in, all I need to make it real is one more reason. __I don't know what to do...I don't know what to do and she makes me sad._

The two girls pulled closer together, with Kairi's head on Yuffie's shoulder.

"You're really short, you know?" Yuffie joked as they continued to dance.

"Well maybe you're just too tall..."

Kairi could feel her interest in the world fading away; she wanted there to be nothing else. One thing in particular that had her heart racing; how close they were. Kairi wasn't a person to be casually touchy like Sora was, and Yuffie knew this. Would her head on the other girl's shoulder be enough of a flag for her to realize that she liked her? Would it take more for Yuffie to realize what Kairi was thinking about?

What was Yuffie thinking about?

'Do I even know what's going through my head?' Kairi asked herself, sighing slightly. 'Yuffie and I haven't even known each other that long, so why am I feeling these things? How are we so close when we've barely had any time together?'

_But I won't let this build up inside of me _

_I won't let this build up inside of me _

_I won't let this build up inside of me _

_I won't let this build up inside of me..._

Kairi closed her eyes as Yuffie's grip slightly altered.

Was she having second thoughts about dancing like this?

Because of Rinoa?

"You know" Yuffie said quietly, "Rinoa and I have never done this."

What?

"She's never slow-danced with me...says she would rather do a faster dance..."

_A catch in my throat, choke, torn into pieces I won't; no. __I don't wanna be this but I won't let this build up inside of me_

_I won't let this build up inside of me_

_I won't let this build up inside of me_

_I won't let this build up inside of me..._

Kairi remained silent.

She wondered how much longer this song would last.

How longer this relationship would last...

"You're also the only other person I've wanted to talk to about my parents" Yuffie said.

"I wonder why..."

_She isn't real; I can't make her real_

_She isn't real; I can't make her real_

The vocals smoothed out and the guitar was left to wash away the remnants of Kairi's emotions, making her dread the end of the night. She wanted to hear about Yuffie's parents, she wanted to hear about what Yuffie liked and didn't – she just wanted to know more about her. Everything, even. What would happen once the dumb party was over? Kairi would go home and bury herself in the internet and Yuffie would go home with Rinoa?

Yuffie sighed as she felt Kairi slump onto her.

"I'm happy you're relaxed and all" she said, "but I'm not a crutch."

"Humph" was the response she got.

The music, along with their movements, gently subsided and left Kairi with a bittersweet feeling.

Kairi gazed into Yuffie's eyes as they stopped, feeling hazy.

"Let's sit down" Yuffie said, breaking the mood.

Kairi followed Yuffie to the nearest empty couch, which turned out to be in the next room.

Kairi sat down on the only available cushion (Axel and Larxene were..._occupying_ the other ones) and Yuffie sat on the floor in front of her.

"My mom killed herself and my father just took off on us" Yuffie said with a satisfied look on her face.

"What? I'm sorry, I... why do you have that look on your face if you're talking about something like that?"

"Because that look on your face is adorable. Really, it doesn't bother me as much as it used to. Still, I haven't even told Rinoa about them. I feel like I shouldn't, for some reason. Kairi, stop looking like you're going to cry. I feel like a bad person 'cause it's cute. If I'm not crying than you don't need to either. I'm perfectly happy with my life now, you know – I have good friends and I love Rinoa, so that's enough to keep me happy."

"_I love Rinoa."_ That statement shot through Kairi like a bullet. So she _did_ like Rinoa a lot. Love, she said.

Kairi was so confused. What were Yuffie's feelings for her? If she loved Rinoa so much than why would she have kissed her? Why would she tell her things that her own girlfriend didn't know?

It seemed to Kairi that Yuffie liked her too, but she still looked happy with Rinoa.

But then again, maybe it was just Yuffie being friendly with her.

After all, she did have a more open personality than Kairi was used to...

'So it's none of my business' she thought, feeling tears well up in her eyes. 'What Yuffie decides to do with her life is none of my business.'

That was pretty hard to even think. For about a month she'd liked Yuffie. For about a month she'd been left hanging in some weird in between phase in their relationship. How would she know if there was even a chance for things to happen between them unless she made an effort to?

"Um...Yuffie?" she asked, feeling her chest tighten.

"Uh...about Rinoa..."

"Eh?" Yuffie asked, probably wearing a smile (Kairi was still looking at her lap).

"If...if she wasn't...around...would there be..."

"?"

"Would...would there be any chance of anything happening between us?"

'Would there be any chance of you saying that I was the girl you loved?'

Kairi, like most other reasonable people, knew when something said has totally ruined an otherwise okay atmosphere. This was one of those times. First of all, she'd pretty much stated that she was totally head over heels infatuated with Yuffie, second, Yuffie had gone dead silent. Yuffie was never silent.

"A-heh...that's an unusually bold question...for you, anyways."

Kairi continued to blink rapidly as she stared downwards.

She wanted Yuffie to say yes, that if Rinoa wasn't around there could be something between them, but she wasn't sure how Yuffie would take the question.

After about thirty seconds pause, there came a soft "Look at me."

Kairi didn't.

With wide eyes, she stared down at her lap and bit her lip. How could she be so direct?

She was sure Yuffie felt the same way, but-

"Kairi...look at me."

Kairi looked up and into Yuffie's eyes, which looked just about as confused as she felt.

"Yes. If I wasn't with Rinoa now...I would definitley be with you."

Yuffie stood up and Kairi felt as if she could fly to the ends of the earth. So Yuffie really did feel the same.

But there was still a roadblock...

"Let's get Zell to drop us off; I better check on Rinoa."

Yuffie looked (and sounded) a little out of character. Usually she was so laid back and in control, but now she looked like she was trying to disarm a bomb.

Kairi stood up but refused to look at Yuffie.

'Another awkward silence in our history...' she thought distantly.

She felt like she should do something; anything to show Yuffie how she felt (even though she was sure she just got the major hint).

As Yuffie tried to turn around, Kairi stopped her.

Leaning up, she kissed her briefly.

Yuffie stared ahead as Kairi lowered herself back down.

"Um...I..."

Yuffie didn't say a word as she continued her blank stare.

If Yuffie wasn't so smart, Kairi could've just played it off as an accident; after all, it looked as if she were trying to lean up to tell her something.

Yuffie finally looked down at Kairi, disbelief in her eyes.

"I'm not going to break up with Rinoa."

Another bullet through Kairi's chest. So she did like Rinoa more…it wasn't really so surprising, just hurtful. She was hoping that maybe there was some chance that the tow of them would be more than just friends.

"Oh. Um..."

Kairi'd told herself not to cry, and not to make a fool of herself, but what else could really have been done? The girl she liked more than anyone else had just shot her down in flames. She felt like such an idiot; there she went opening herself up to Yuffie and the possibility of something more between the two of them and she got turned down. Of course.

"Oh, God, Kairi, I'm sorry. Please don't cry; it's making me feel like crap – I don't want you to feel bad. But I love her Kairi, I really do. She's the most important person in the world to me, and I'm so sorry for tagging you along like I've been. I've known how you feel –because I like you like that too, Kairi, but it's just not the same as with Rinoa. I just don't know what's going on in my own head. Sorry. Really, I am. I want us to still be friends, but I honestly can't see us being…you know…I'm so sorry, Kairi…"

Yuffie tried to wipe away Kairi's tears with her hand in some sort of start at patching things up, but Kairi slapped her hand away and stepped back, still trying to bite back tears. "It's just not the same for you as it is for me! You have no problems in relationships with people like I do! You were supposed to be the one who knew how to handle this! It's not fair, Yuffie! Why would you torture me like this and just say that you can't be with me? I don't…I don't…want to be mad about this…"

"…Kairi, I'm –"

"But I am! I love you, Yuffie, and I can't help but feel like you're ripping my heart out and stepping all over it!"

This time it was Yuffie's turn to be shot in the chest. 'Love? _Love?'_

It wasn't so shocking that Kairi felt that way, but that she'd said it out loud. "I love you, Yuffie."

She'd told Rinoa she'd loved her, and meant it. Rinoa had said it to her, and meant it. So why was her heart in pieces at the sight of poor little Kairi crying her eyes out in front of her? Why did she want to hold her and comfort her and tell her that…she loved her too?

"…Kairi, I…this isn't all that easy for me either, you know! How do you think I feel, being with Rinoa but wanting to be with you at the same time? How the hell do you think it makes me feel, knowing someone is going to get hurt? I'm sorry if I'm not perfect, but I love Rinoa! I mean that from the bottom of my heart! I can't just turn my back on her!"

"But you can turn your back on me."

"…."

Yuffie was an exceptionally smart girl – she could answer most questions on quiz shows right, she knew how to cheat on sweepstakes giveaways, and she could memorize song lyrics in a flash. Common sense, however, was a little foreign to her. She was more of the act on the moment kind of girl, so that's what she did. She didn't want to be fighting with Kairi and she didn't want to see her crying.

So she kissed her.

* * *

- My tailbone really hurts. This story's turned out surprisingly well. I've gotten the sequel to BtCM, and I'm gonna type it up...sometime...maybe...eh...probably. Well nothing much to say here...except that it's one oh eight a.m. and im so tired my spleen is eating itself. Ah, yes, the song Yuffie and Kairi were dancing to. It's Vermillion pt.2 by slipknot. The song at the concert is "Tears From the Moon" by Sinead O' Connor, and yes I like the postal service. I know, I know, im totally gay. Anywho, this part of the a/n Is being written 3 years after the rest (im revising the story), and the more I reread this the more I dislike this story. I just want it done and over with… 


	7. Of Goodbyes and New Beginnings

Ch. 7: Of Good-byes and New Beginnings

-I'm going to kill myself. No, I'm not. Not now, anyways. Things could always be worse. I could be living out on the streets right now.

I guess that I could be...blind and deaf... lol, sorry, report cards come out soon...

* * *

"_Yuffie?_"

Yuffie didn't even have to look up to know who it was. Her hands slid off Kairi's shoulders, her heart dropping to her feet. That was Rinoa. "Yuffie?"

It was so hard to even move. What the hell was she thinking? It shouldn't have mattered what Yuffie felt about Kairi, she wasn't as important as Rinoa was. Nothing was. 'Oh God…'

The look in the other girl's eyes was crushing. Yuffie couldn't look away. Kairi turned around slowly to face Rinoa, looking how Yuffie felt. The worst part was that Rinoa wasn't speaking to them. She looked at Kairi, then Yuffie, then back to Kairi. "I don't…how long have you…?" Yuffie averted her eyes as Kairi said "Rinoa, it wasn't her, I-"

"Shut up!" Rinoa snapped, turning on Kairi.

"Who the hell do you think you are, kissing her like that when you know she's my girlfriend?"

Kairi stayed silent.

There was nothing she could really say, after all.

Rinoa's disposition changed from confusion to anger. Tearing up, she glared at Yuffie and turned tail. "Wait!" Yuffie said, following her. "Rinoa, will you just-"

She had to push through Kairi to get to her, almost knocking her down in the hurry she was in. "Rinoa, please! Just-"

"Just what?" Rinoa snarled, turning around.

"Why were you kissing her? What, am I not good enough for you now or something? You've been acting weird for weeks now! So is this why? Good God I came here to come get you…and you…" Rinoa's tears started, and Yuffie realized just how much of an idiot she was. Poor, poor Rinoa.

Yuffie searched her head for some kind of reason or excuse, but every one she came up with would only dig her hole deeper. How could she tell her girlfriend that she loved her more than anything else but couldn't get Kairi out of her head?

"So..." Rinoa said coldly as Yuffie bit her lip and looked away, "How long have you two been doing this behind my back? Days? Weeks? _Months?"_

Yuffie couldn't really see a way out of this, easy or not. She couldn't just tell Rinoa that Kairi meant nothing and their relationship was fine, 'cause that's just not how it was. Kairi didn't mean the same thing to Yuffie as Rinoa did, that was true. But that didn't mean she didn't still have feelings for Kairi. There wasn't a way she could explain to Rinoa and not seem like a total prick.

"Rinoa, Kairi and I are just friends, I've never even-"

"Friends who make out?"

"We weren't 'making out', it was just a kiss! A harmless kiss!"

"Yuffie, if you let her _"harmlessly"_ kiss you, you must have some kind of feelings for her!"

"Fine then!" Yuffie yelled, getting desperate despite herself.

"I _do_ like Kairi! It's just some stupid crush! Something people pass notes and giggle about! I obviously don't _like _her anywhere near as much as I _love_ you, or else I'd be going out with her right now, wouldn't I? It's you I want to be with, not her!"

Rinoa looked as if she were about to say something, but Yuffie said "Rinoa, it's _you_ I want. I wouldn't give you up to go out with Kairi..." Rinoa sighed and turned to walk away, took a few steps, and turned around, still tearing up. "I love you Yuffie."

"I love you too."

"I'd never cheat on you."

"…."

"I don't want you to ever see her again."

"What?"

"If I'm more important to you than her, don't ever see her again."

Yuffie didn't argue. She didn't want to loose Rinoa. 'But do I want to loose Kairi? I like her a lot…' This wasn't just about her loosing Kairi romantically, but as a friend, too. She enjoyed being with Kairi just like with Rinoa. But then again…

She said it herself that even though she might've liked Kairi Rinoa was the one she loved. She wasn't willing to give her up; they'd been through so much together to just have it end over some girl Yuffie barely even knew.

'But she's not just 'some girl'. I really care about her…'

"…Rinoa, does it have to-?"

"You said yourself you like her."

True, but she could make those feelings go away, right? If she tried hard enough she could just stop liking her, right?

"What if I just don't feel anything for her anymore? What if I just stop-"

"It doesn't matter what_ you _think you can do, _I'm _not going to be able to do that."

Turning around, she saw Kairi standing behind her, a weak smile on her face.

"After all, she is your girlfriend...and I am 'Just some little crush' ".

Yuffie felt horrible. She'd ruined Kairi and maybe even Rinoa. They hadn't even had barely any time together – there were all sorts of things she still wanted to know about Kairi, and so many things she wanted Kairi to know about her. 'But that's exactly why this isn't working. I want to get closer to her because I want to be more than just her friend.'

Without another word, Kairi passed between the two of them and walked away.

As she left Yuffie and Rinoa behind she hoped Yuffie would follow her. She hoped she would take back those things she said and admit she wanted to be with her too.

'Maybe she'll take back what she just said and come find me and...'

To make a long story short, Yuffie never came.

* * *

"Hey, you can't smoke in here!" 

"Why not?"

"First of all, you're a minor! Secondly, if you get caught I'll get busted 'cause I'm supposed to be watching you twerps!"

Yuffie cocked her head side to side, her cheap 99-cent cigarette hanging out of her mouth. Minor, huh? 'That girl's pretty cute. She wouldn't have anything to do with me, though, if she thinks I'm a minor.'

It was a little sad to say later on, but the first thing she thought about Rinoa wasn't exactly something she could bring up later. Censorship is alright to a certain extent, right?

"I'm nineteen." An easy bluff to call, but would she? The girl didn't look so bright (again, Yuffie was sorry), so ten to one it would just blow over her head.

"Nineteen? You look like ten."

Ten? _Ten?_

"I'm fourteen, you idiot, that's not even close to ten!" is what she wanted to say, but then again her cover would've been blown, so she took the visible effort to restrain her temper.

"It doesn't matter what I look like, I'm nineteen! You barely look nineteen yourself."

"How do you know how old I am?"

"Process of elimination. You have to be eighteen and older to work in this kind of place, and since you're still young-looking but not in high school I figured you had to be nineteen, right? Twenty if you want to push it."

"…."

She was buying it. What a dumb girl. 'You'd think these youth groups would have some kind of intelligence standard for their employees before they're hired…'

Rinoa was dumb, but she was cute, therefore Yuffie decided to ask her out. It's not like she was looking to get into anything serious, just some fun here and there. Nothing to deep.

"Are you free this weekend? I'm in a band, or trying to be at least, and we have a show for some kid's birthday. It's our first one and stuff, so I'd look good to have lots of people there. You know, to make it look like we're popular and stuff. You wanna come?"

"If I say no?

"I'll pout."

"Sure then."

* * *

"Oh my God? You still live with your parents? Why, that's a little suspicious for a nineteen-year-old! Come to think of it, you don't have a license either…" 

"Huh? N-no, I have a license! It's just…lost. In my room."

"Uh-huh. Right. Well, then what college do you go to?"

"College?"

"You say you go to school on the weekdays, right? And _nineteen-year-olds_ certainly don't go to _high school, _so-"

"Alright, alright, you got me! Do you have to be so harsh? I'm not nineteen! Sheesh!"

"Ha. Figured. You owe me another date for lying."

"You still want to go out with me?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

"You don't know how old I am…"'

"Doesn't matter."

During the past few weeks, Yuffie had fallen head over heels for Rinoa. She was positively madly smitten with her and didn't quite know why. When she started to date her it was more or less to fill the void she'd been feeling, not for anything long-lasting. Her first impression was that Rinoa was a complete dumbass, and so she wasn't expecting the other girl to enthrall her as much as she did. Or at all, really.

"I like you Yuffie. Even though you're arrogant."

"I'm not arrogant!"

"Oh yes you are! You honestly thought you could pull the wool over my eyes with the 'I'm nineteen!' business? Arrogance, dear girl, arrogance."

Alright, so Yuffie had nothing to say to that. It was embarrassing, honestly. "I'm fourteen just so you know."

"Shit. I'm nineteen. Don't tell anyone or I might get arrested."

"I might."

Once again, Yuffie was delirious. Rinoa was wonderful. They'd barely even gotten to know each other and Yuffie just couldn't get enough of her. And really, Rinoa was smarter than she looked (which really wasn't surprising, seeing as how Rinoa didn't look smart at all). 'It's not like she's a complete airhead. She's actually really perceptive about lots of stuff – '

Rinoa had tried to roll out the picnic blanket so the two of them could sit and spectate the show without getting ants all over them, but she ended up rolling herself up in it and spilling their soda everywhere.

"Yuffie! Help, it's all gone wrong!"

'Okay…so maybe I spoke too soon…'

Their tenth date was dubbed the "Super Yuffie-Rinoa Romance Power Night" by Rinoa. In reality, it was loud and crowded at the fireworks expo, due to the fact that everyone in Traverse Town had shown up. Rinoa tried to make it seem like she had to fight tooth and nail to get space reserved so far away from the crowd, but it was really 'cause the youth group she worked with was supposed to be supervising the event. In other words, she was skipping work. What a dunce.

"_The fireworks show will be starting in two minutes… I repeat, the show will begin in two minutes…"_

"Oh noes! Two minutes Yuffie! The blankets' come alive!"

"No, you're just uncoordinated. Of course you're going to get tangled up in it if you're spinning around like a fool, you fool."

In the field in front of them, people were shoving and groping and yelling, trying to get space to see the show that hadn't even started yet. Around them, the whole three other groups of people Rinoa worked with (and were also skipping duty) were glaring at the two girls for making such a fuss. Yuffie made sure to be louder.

"_The show is now beginning, I repeat the show will now begin…"_

The buzz of crying children and whining dogs didn't subside as the announcer tripped over his cord, stumbling off the rickety old stage and into the crowd. People laughed and made no visible effort to help the poor idiot. Yuffie ended up tangled up in the blanket next to Rinoa. 'I think she's been planning this all along…'

The fireworks started.

"_As dawn draws to a close, our journey through the dull night also comes to an end."_

"This is comfy."

"You're squishing my miscellaneous body parts on my left side."

"_Maybe tonight if you look up at the sky with someone you love you'll see a little bit of your future."_

Yuffie tried to find and hold Rinoa's hand but ended up pinching her butt (on accident, of course).

"Oh Yuffie, you tease! Now's not the time!"

"If I tell you I was grabbing for your hand would you believe me?"

"Nope!"

"Me either."

"_Here's to things to come and leaving bad pasts behind. Enjoy the show and make sure to buy our expensive snacks at the a la carte."_

"Hear that, Yuffie? Sound like your cue to kiss me."

"_My mistake, the snacks are reasonably priced, not expensive. Help yourselves to the various saturated fats and cholesterol you please."_

"Those people next to us and their kids are staring at us."

"All the more reason."

"You're right."

"_My supervisors have just told me it's bad marketing to explain that the sacks we're selling are disgustingly unhealthy. But really I'm only twenty years old, and this job pays like three dollars an hour. I could work at WacDonald's for more money. So you know what? Kiss my ass boss. The 'hotdogs' are made of goat. Not pork, goat. Since I'm probably going to get fired, have a nice night everyone. Fight the power -!"_

As the twenty-year-old announcer was pulled away from the mic and various hues of blue and green exploded in the sky, Yuffie leaned over and kissed her girlfriend.

* * *

I apologize for the shortness and foulness of this chapter. Ew. Turns out, I've totally had to rework what I had planned, seeing as how Aeris was swapped with Ellone. Anywho, the overall length of the fic is going to be just about doubled, seeing as how I haven't really put Irvine to his full use yet . and, thanks to my wonderful reviewers, who've persuaded me to continue this after like 3 years. 


	8. Melancholy and Something Like Depression

Ch 8 Melancholy and Something Like Depression

So…yeah. Its like nine forty at night & I have school tomorrow…oh yeah, since I've been getting a lot of emails about this, no Zell isn't really all that important. He is involved with Kairi somewhat later on, but aside from that not too much is going on with him. In the original version of this story (which blew) Irvine had a lot more involvement, but as of now that's being curved for some Ellone/Rinoa stuff just so I can get them out of the way. And no, I'm not using Wakka in this cause he was completely useless & his overdrives suck

* * *

"Ellone? Ellone is that you? Are you there?" 

"Rinoa? Why are you – I mean, I'm grading papers and going over things for the next computer club trip. I'm not really free right now."

Ellone had gotten used to lying to herself, so pushing Rinoa away time after time wasn't as stressful as it used to be. A little bit anyway.

"No! Please don't hang up, this is important! I need to talk to someone!"

"…."

Again, Ellone was at a loss for words. Why did Rinoa need to talk to her? If the thing with Yuffie was bothering her so much why didn't she just talk to her directly?

'She has no idea what I'm going through. Rinoa has to be the most oblivious girl I've ever met.'

"It's about Yuffie –"

Somehow Ellone wasn't surprised.

"- She won't tell me what's wrong with her! I know it's something; she's quiet all the time and just never smiles. Every time I ask about it she blows it off like it was just me seeing things. I don't know what to do…"

"…."

Ellone looked at the clock (it was five 'till midnight) and decided to put the school work on hold. The conversation with Rinoa was most likely going to be time consuming, and afterwards she'd be too preoccupied to do any work.

'She has no idea how hard this is for me.'

"I love Yuffie, I really do. I don't want her to feel like she can't talk to me, even if it's the smallest or dumbest thing ever. I just…oh, I don't know! It just…hurts, you know? Like no matter how hard I try I just can't get through to her."

What a horrible taste in her mouth. What a disgusting feeling.

Ellone could only think such things from the deepest depths of her heart, but no matter how she thought of it Yuffie was just wrong for Rinoa. Maybe it was the age difference, maybe it was something else, but Rinoa just wasn't meant for Rinoa.

"I mean, she looks so depressed when she's around me! How is that supposed to make me feel? I'm her girlfriend – she should be the happiest when she's around me. That's how it is for me anyway…"

"…."

Ellone, as Yuffie's teacher and an adult, would do nothing about this. She was only even involved because Rinoa thought of her as a friend. 'Otherwise this would be none of my business.'

"…."

But, on the other hand, not once had Ellone seen Yuffie looking unhappy. She was always smiling; the closest she'd ever been to depressed at school was seeing her (failing) test grades. She was always smiling.

It was apparent to Ellone that this was because of Kairi; she was the one making Yuffie smile and she was the one tearing apart Rinoa's heart.

"…."

It was Kairi's fault Rinoa was suffering, crying through the phone line like a child to her.

"Ellone, I don't know what to do. Has anything like this ever happened to you? I can't help but feel like she's tearing out my heart and walking all over it –"

"Rinoa, come over."

"What?"

"Come over so we can talk. It'll be easier for you that way, and you probably need a shoulder to cry on, right?"

Later Ellone kicked herself for saying that out loud. She tried to convince herself that she had no ulterior motives, but that in and of itself was a lie. She wanted Rinoa to come over and pour her heart out; she wanted to convince her to break up with Yuffie.

'But it's because she sees me as a friend, nothing else. I'm not doing this because I want to be with her, I'm doing this because her and Yuffie don't belong together.'

"I don't know where you live Ellone. How am I supposed to come over?"

"I'll come to you. I know where you live."

Before Rinoa could counter, Ellone hung up the phone, her heart racing like a child's.

'I can't believe myself. I'm just trying to be helpful, it's nothing else. Please nothing else.'

"…."

Deep down she couldn't help but loathe Yuffie.

* * *

There was a knock on Kairi's door, followed by her silence. She didn't feel like talking to anyone. She didn't even feel like existing. 'Ugh…I'm so depressed.' 

Who wouldn't be, though, if the person they were totally infatuated with completely abandoned them. 'Even if Rinoa is her girlfriend…that totally blew.'

More knocking.

She began to wonder – usually her parents didn't knock, and whenever Sora came over he just walked in without bothering to knock in the first place. 'Who cares. Yuffie dumped me and we weren't even going out. My life blows –"

After the second knock the door flew open, smashing into the wall hard enough to make the books on the wall shelf to fall off.

"What the- ?"

"Open your door next time, idiot" Riku sneered, not bothering to examine the dent he'd just caused.

"I could tell you're all depressed; yesterday Sora spilled milk on your laptop and you didn't yell at him."

"What are you doing, just barging in like that? Why are you here? Look at my wall!"

"What do you mean 'barging in'? I knocked for like twenty minutes. I am your friend, by the way, so it kinda sucks that you're asking why I'm here. You've been crying, too."

"…."

Okay, so she had been. Sitting up in her bed, Kairi rubbed her eyes and silently cursed Riku for showing up. She wanted to be depressed, but ten to one he'd find a way to cheer her up.

"Why the silent treatment? Would it be better if Sora showed up? You were always closer to him anyways."

"That's not –"

"I know, I know, I'm giving you a hard time. So what's going on? Something to do with Yuffie?"

Right on target.

"No. I'm on my period."

"Mkay" he said, sitting down on her bed and wrapping his arms around her shoulders.

"I'll take it as that. Even though you were crying when I picked you up from Irvine's party and for the past two weeks you've been avoiding Yuffie like the plague. Someone with sense would think it's cause you were upset about her, but hey, maybe your period has been going on for twice the normal time slot."

"Riku…"

"No, no, I believe you. I mean, it's not like you've been totally moping and sulking on your laptop or anything. You know when you hung out with Yuffie you didn't use that thing once? You're on it too much now it's unhealthy. You'll get carpal tunnel."

"That's enough Riku…"

"Hm? Enough? Oh, you just think that you have the right to be sad alone, right? Seriously, Kairi…other people noticed these things. If Sora wasn't sick he'd be over here too. Even Selphie noticed something was wrong with you. You have friends, you know. Stop isolating yourself."

In a few seconds she was latching onto him and crying like a baby. She _was _upset about Yuffie, alright. She _was _completely cutting herself, whatever. "I don't know what to do! I want to talk to her! I don't care if she doesn't like me like she likes Rinoa, I don't care! I just want her to be around! I don't know what to do!"

"Why can't you talk to her?"

"She can't talk to me! Rinoa told her not to!"

"That doesn't mean _you _can't talk to _her_, though, Kairi. You're giving up. If you really like her, Yuffie, you can't be so timid. It doesn't matter what Rinoa says, if you don't do something Yuffie won't either."

In all honesty, Kairi had thought of that herself. She imagined just talking to Yuffie and making everything the way it used to be. 'If I just take back what I say and explain that I don't like her like that there won't be a problem! Rinoa would have no reason to keep her away from me!'

But, that wasn't really an option. Kairi did like Yuffie that way, and no matter what she did or how hard she tried she couldn't make the feelings stop. She wanted to be the one Yuffie said she loved; she wanted to be the one who held Yuffie's hand. She wanted to be her girlfriend.

"I just want her to feel the same way I do!"

"Then show her, Kairi. Get off your butt and do something about it!"

"But what if –"

"Stop that" he said, shaking her. "You always do that. No 'What if' about this. You'll regret this later on if you don't try. If she means so much to you then show her."

"You don't understand, it's –"

Sighing, Riku shook her again, a little too roughly.

"What do you mean 'I don't understand'? _Of course _I understand, you doofus. What, do you think I asked Sora out as soon as I realized I liked him? No."

Funnily enough, Kairi knew nothing about that. She didn't know exactly when they'd started dating or who asked whom out. It was just something she kind of caught on to. In a way it made her feel like a big jerk, not knowing about her friend's lives because she was too wrapped up in herself.

"How long did you like Sora before you told him?" she asked, hoping the subject change would help her head stop hurting from all the crying.

He rolled her off of him, laughing as she flopped back on her bed like a ragdoll. "Geez, Kairi…okay, I'll tell you. But don't tell him."

"Why not?"

"It's embarrassing."

"You're embarrassed to tell a boy who mixes Pop Rocks with pudding how long you've liked him? Something doesn't fit there."

"Fine then. If you want to mock me I'll just leave."

"No stay, I want to know!"

"….Promise you won't tell?"

"You sound like Selphie. I promise on my laptop, Riku, that I won't tell."

"Good. Well, if you must know, I've liked him for about…six years."

"…That's like right after you met."

"Pretty much. Once again, if you tell I'll have to castrate you."

"Too bad I lack a penis."

"Can you be sure about that?"

After taking a few stuffed animals to the face, Riku took back his comment and apologized.

"Sorry, sorry! Alright, you don't have a penis! It's just that, since your boobs are so small I kinda thought -!"

A few pillows shut him up.

'Curse you Riku' Kairi thought, jumping up off the bed and chasing him with the last pillow in her arsenal, 'I'm already feeling better.'

* * *

"Okay, you know what? This is super gay. Why am I even doing this? See you later Sora, I have to go do something manly." 

At that, Tidus totally abandoned Sora at the mall.

"Just because we're shopping doesn't make it gay!" Sora yelled after him, waving his smoothie.

"Maybe not" Tidus yelled back, but shopping for your _boyfriend _is. See ya."

"…"

Sora found it funny that Tidus of all people was objecting. 'Hm. I don't want to go through the mall alone. That's boring. I can't call Kairi, cause she's moping. I obviously can't get Seifer or Zell to come…what –'

It was then that Sora had gotten the best idea ever. Since he discovered that the best way to eat milk duds was in a bowl of chocolate milk. He'd kill two birds with one stone! He'd get Riku's fuzzy pink handcuffs (which were totally for him, by the way) _and_ solve poor Kairi's love problem. He just needed to catch up to Tidus again.

* * *

"Uh, I don't think this is a good idea." 

"Why not? Should I go with blue handcuffs? Is pink too feminine?

"…You know what I mean, Sora."

Yuffie stood awkwardly off to the side as Sora went though the fuzzy handcuffs selection at the local adult-themed store in the mall.

"And besides that, how do you plan on buying those? You're nowhere near eighteen. You don't even look fourteen. You look ten."

Shaking his head, Sora decided on green handcuffs. "These will bring out his eyes, don't you think?"

"Uh, hello! This has nothing to do with what's gonna bring out his eyes! Are you even listening to me?'

"Relax" Sora whispered, swinging the cuffs. "I'm here to solve all your problems."

"Oh my God. Why…why the hell did I come here? What the hell am I doing?"

"You're asking that cashier if they have _Hot Lesbians Extreme_, that's what you're doing."

_"What?"_

"Just go! And ask real loud."

"Why would I -?"

"I'll give you five bucks."

"Alright, but you're explaining why the hell you made me come in the first place, got it?"

"Sure."

"Remember to ask loud or they'll catch me leaving with this stuff."

"What? You're stealing?"

* * *

"I can't believe I was an accessory in a crime" Yuffie mumbled, watching Sora innocently sip his smoothie on one of the benches at the front of the violated mall.

"Like you haven't stolen from there before" he murmured back, tossing the empty cup away right in front of the trash can. "You're…such a bad boy" Yuffie commented, getting up to actually throw the trash away. "And here I thought you were so innocent…."

"I am. I'm just lazy."

"Stealing is lazy?"

"I needed those."

"Okay, you know what, I'm not even going to ask. Thanks for that image in my head."

And so ensued the silence. Yuffie had a pretty good idea what was going on, but she was a bit of a coward (even when it came to Sora) so she left it alone. He was going to start any minute most likely.

"So Yuffie" He said, turning to face her, stuffing the cuffs in his jacket pocket, "you can probably guess why I asked you to come, aside from the obvious distraction.

"Yeah I have a pretty good idea…"

The mall was surprisingly deserted, but then again it was Monday afternoon. She kinda wished more people were around so she'd have some kind of distraction.

"Kairi's really beating herself up about this" Sora continued, staring up at the sky, "she's super depressed. I'm sure you've noticed."

"Of course I have."

"Have you been watching her?"

"Of course I have."

"Why don't you talk to her?"

"She can't talk to me. Rinoa said she didn't want me talking to Kairi and Kairi's taking it a little more seriously than she should. She's the one avoiding me, not the other way around."

"…Huh."

"…Yeah."

Another silence.

"Well Yuffie, I've got an idea. Try to bear with me, 'cause I think I can get this to work."

* * *

Omg another chapter down. I'm so sick of school. High school sucks. I get pushed around 'cause people think I'm a freshman. I'm 18 in 159 days people!! Too bad I'm like five feet tall and look like a middle schooler. No one takes me seriously… 


	9. I Can Keep Lying To Myself

Ch. 9

I can keep lying to Myself

**IMPORTANT!!**** The chapter 9 I had posted before was actually chapter 10, I made a mistake. This is the real chapter 9. My bad**

So. I'm a little sick of typing by now. Oh, and if you want to see something funny, to . That's some funny crap. Anyways, "Yuffie" is the most repeated word in this fanfic. Strange. Coincidentally, I find it necessary to note that I've completely warped Kairi's character. Now she's pretty much just a replica of me, but with a bigger head. Did anyone else notice how huge her head is in the first game? You could roll Donald and Goofy up and there'd still be room for more.

* * *

Yuffie stared out her window and into the drizzling rain outside. Rinoa wasn't answering her phone (for the past few days), and Tifa didn't think she was "responsible" enough to drive, so that meant she was pretty screwed. 'Who likes to walk in the rain…'

Not her. Rain was sweet and romantic and all in movies, but in real life it smelled bad and matted her hair down like a dog's.

'I hate rain.'

She had bags under her eyes, 'cause she hadn't slept. Her stomach hurt 'cause she had no appetite.

This wasn't because she was upset about Kairi. Not completely anyway. She was beginning to wonder about Rinoa, who had stopped talking to her recently. Yuffie didn't have the gumption to just go straight to her work or her house to talk to her either. 'I'm such a dumbass. I hope she's not still mad at me. She probably is, the way I've been blowing her off. I need to apologize to her.'

This, of course, was all easier said than done. In reality, no matter how much she wanted a way to make the situation work out without hurting Kairi or Rinoa, it just wasn't going to work. 'It can't; because in the end I'll always love Rinoa more.'

Funny, though, that she couldn't bring herself to believe the truthfulness of that statement.

* * *

When Rinoa woke up, a huge tabby cat was lying on her face. She hadn't had a cat since she was in elementary school.

"Shit!" Sitting up at once, she knocked the cat off her face and onto the ground with a rather blood–curdling mewl. "What the…oh…_oh…"_

There was a _Les Miserables _poster on the wall. Rinoa wasn't into Broadway, and Yuffie didn't' have the attention span for it. On the nightstand next to her were piles and piles of English papers waiting to be checked. "Oh my God…"

Her clothes were in a messy heap next to the bed, sided by Ellone's neat tussle.

"Oh my God…"

Pulling the blanket up around her, she looked and realized Ellone was still there and wide awake, lying on her side and gazing out of the window on the other side of the room.

Rinoa felt…scared. A little confused, maybe even angry, but mostly scared.

'I can't believe…oh God. Oh God. I –'

"I'm sorry" Ellone murmured, still looking out the window, "this is my fault. This wouldn't have happened if I had just left you alone. I'm sorry."

"That's just the thing. I didn't want to be left alone" was what Rinoa had wanted to say.

The utter feeling of disgust towards herself stopped her, though, She couldn't believe…

'What have I done? I can't believe this! What will I tell Yuffie?'

"I'm in love with you, you know."

If Rinoa wasn't already laying in bed she would've been floored. She hoped her ears deceived her. She hoped she didn't just hear what she thought she did. Not from Ellone.

"I always have been, for some reason. Just thought you should know."

"…."

She didn't want to hear those things. Not from Ellone. 'This isn't what I wanted to happen…'

"I was married a year ago. I met him when I was eighteen and married him a month later. I never loved him. I thought he could fill whatever void I had, and at first if was exhilarating. If seemed like love at first. But it wasn't. Something was missing and I just couldn't…I mean…"

'Please stop. Please, please stop. I can't deal with this! Not now…'

"I want you to think about this…but if you don't want to then I guess I have no choice. Are you and Yuffie…really in love with each other?"

"Ellone, stop!" letting go of the blankets, Rinoa threw them off of her and slid of the bed, scrambling for her clothes. She wasn't going to hear this. Not now, not ever. She _did _love Yuffie, more than anyone else in the world ever could. 'More than anyone! Yuffie and I belong together!'

"Because you might be mistaking dependency for love. It's not the same thing, Rinoa, believe me. I know…that I would be able to treat you right. I wouldn't hurt you. I love you."

"Stop, just stop!" Rinoa gasped, pulling her shirt up over her head, stumbling into her jeans. "It doesn't matter, none of this matters! I love Yuffie, not you! I won't ever love you!"

That was the end of it. Rinoa couldn't ever look the other girl in the eye again. She was scared. Would Ellone tell Yuffie? Would she have to tell her first?

'Oh God…how can I tell her about this? What am I going to do?'

"…You don't have to leave" Ellone said quietly, rolling over to face her. "I don't want you to."

"I don't care what you want!"

"I'm sorry."

"Stop apologizing!"

"I don't know what else to do."

"…!"

A split second later and Rinoa was out the door, running down the street like she had something to be afraid of.

* * *

A little ways away from the Broken Slide Park, Yuffie crouched down in the Mysterious Berry Bushes, waiting to make her "tactful, casual" entrance. _'Casual _my ass. She's not gonna fall for this; I can't believe I'm going along with him…I'm such an idiot.'

And her hair was plastered down to her head like a drowned rat. No way was Kairi going to believe they "ran into each other" when it was obvious Yuffie'd been sitting outside in the rain forever.

It had to be tried, though, so Sora would stop nagging her. Since the two of the deduced Kairi would never just go up to Yuffie and talk to her, Yuffie had to be the one to initiate conversation.

"_Wait for her by the weird-colored berry bushes at that park. She walks by there every day before school, so make sure you casually bump into her. If it looks suspicious she'll probably get uncomfortable and freak out."_

Whatever. Yuffie could stand having to be the one to finally talk, that wasn't the problem, but the rain was just pissing her off. She was waiting outside (in the rain) for Kairi for almost fifteen minutes and her mood got worse and worse as time went by (and rain pounded her head).

"_You better make up with her so she stops moping all over the place! I'll know if you mess up!"_

Really though, what would Sora be able to do? 'He's about as threatening as Kairi. Dumb boy…'

"Yuffie?"

Practically jumping out of her skin, Yuffie lurched forward into the side of the Mysterious Berry Bush, getting a face full of Mysterious Berries.

"Ah – what the hell – what're you doing, Kairi?"

"I could be asking you that. You've been sitting there staring for a while."

Yuffie's face flushed, but lest she get caught, she instantly got defensive.

"No I haven't!"

"I've been walking down the hill and watching you. You've been sitting there for a while. You were there before I got here, weren't you?"

"…Uh…maybe."

It wasn't perfect but it was better than Yuffie had imagined. Kairi didn't just ignore her and she hadn't come up with an excuse to leave.

'Okay. Maybe if I just act like nothing ever happened it'll be fine –'

"Well..." Kairi said, waving absentmindedly, "I better go before you get in trouble from Rinoa. Bye."

Yuffie stood there for a moment and watched her go, rain blurring her vision.

The utter snideness (from _her _of all people) was a bit of a shock. She was probably mad.

'What am I _doing?_' she thought has Kairi paraded off, umbrella-less.

'I can't just let her leave like that...'

"Uh...wait!" Yuffie said as she caught up to her, standing a little to the side.

"Don't you have a coat?"

"No."

"Eh...why not?" Yuffie asked, desperately trying to keep up conversation. It shouldn't be that hard to just keep her talking and slip in an apology, right?

"My parents won't buy me one" she responded as she rung out her skort.

'What kind of parents are those?' Yuffie thought as she took note of how cold Kairi looked.

Then again, judging by what she was told about her parents, the fact that Kairi didn't have a jacket didn't really surprise her.

"Here" she said, digging in her backpack, "Use this."

Pulling out her umbrella, she gave Kairi an encouraging smile. "Take it, take it. Don't look at me like I'm offering you drugs or something."

Kairi took it with no words.

Yuffie had the feeling that if she just didn't come out and apologize already Kairi wouldn't talk to her at all. 'Shit. This is totally awkward. Maybe I shouldn't have even tried.'

"I can't get this open."

Kairi fumbled with the umbrella and Yuffie eventually took it back, grinning.

"Ha ha...you don't even know how to open an umbrella..." she snickered as she opened it with ease.

"It's not that!" Kairi yelled in her defense.

"My fingers are all cold and wet..."

"Whatever excuse you need" Yuffie said as she held the umbrella over her head.

'It gives me an excuse to talk to you.'

For a few minutes they walked under Yuffie's rainbow-colored umbrella, glancing at each other from the corners of their eyes.

'What should I say?' Yuffie thought for the millionth time. 'Apologizing would be the thing – but I can't even open my mouth! This is going to take forever. I suck.'

"Yuffie, why were you sitting there in the bush like that?"

"Uh?"

"You're soaked. Why were you sitting out there like that?"

Well…the question itself was easy enough to answer. Yuffie was prideful and embarrassed, though, so what should've been easy was made out to be way too hard to say.

"Uh…"

Her fingers fumbled with the umbrella handle as Kairi stared blankly ahead, biting her lip. It was pretty much now or never, or else Kairi would keep avoiding her.

After a while, Yuffie said "You know Kairi...there's this thing people do when they like each other."

"Oh really?" Kairi asked, picking up the conversation more willingly than Yuffie thought she would.

"Yeah. You see, with most people, the process of liking someone lasts longer than the actual dating."

"How so?"

"Well...usually people will mess around or play games. You know, acting all shy and denying to like the other person, etc., etc."

'Not unlike Riku and Sora' she thought, remembering how obvious it was when she barely knew the two of them.

"That way, if the other person will eventually figure it out, the person who liked them in the first place won't have to come directly out and say it."

"If you like someone enough why wouldn't you tell them?" Kairi asked, although she was in no position to talk about that.

"Well...that'd be breaking the ice."

"?"

"If you break the ice you fall in. There's a chance the other person will be able to get away if they really want to. But regardless of that, you'll always fall in."

'That's a pretty poetic way of putting it...' Kairi thought.

"And are you one of those people?" she teased.

"More than you would know" Yuffie replied silently.

Kairi stopped, along with Yuffie.

It was her turn to be tongue-tied.

"…Yuffie, I'm –"

"Sorry."

"…."

"I'm sorry, Kairi. I still want to see you. I still want to be your friend. It doesn't matter what Rinoa says. I'm still here."

Kairi shook her head and kept walking. "You make me want to cry, Yuffie."

"That's pretty much my job."

Fighting back a smile, Kairi slowed her pace until she was at Yuffie's side, glowing with excitement. So Yuffie wasn't going to feel the same way. Was that really so bad, keeping things the way they were?

'It doesn't really matter now. At least she can talk to me. I can make this work.'

"Yup" Yuffie mumbled, scuffing her shoes on the pavement underneath them, "once you fall in it's hard to get back out."

* * *

yay, finaly an update!! i like this chapter a lot; i dont even remember writing this...


	10. You Think What?

Ch.10 You Think…What?

**IMPORTANT!! This is chapter 10, not chapter 9. If you read chapter 9 before my most recent update, it was actually chapter 10. Sorry…just go read the actual chapter 9 and come back to this one**

Have I mentioned how much I hate forensic science? Cause I do. More than life itself. Mrs. Legary SUCKS. and i failed it...

* * *

Riku doodled all over his textbook.

Sure, art was one of his classes that required no brainpower at all, but damn was it boring.

And the fact that Sora had dragged him around outside in the rain all morning didn't help either.

"Open your textbook to the page jfasghiu" the teacher said.

Or something like that.

He was too busy not paying attention to notice.

"Riku!" Seifer whispered, nudging him in the ribs, "turn to page twelve, you idiot!"

'Whatever' he thought as he turned the pages, hoping the ninety-minute class would just let out eighty-five minutes early.

"The principal of kjfowin explains that kdnogi can only exist as long as it has wognasni to supplement it" the teacher said, further boring him.

Looking up, he saw Kairi, who sat a seat in front of him, paying undevoted attention and even taking notes.

"Dork" he whispered just loud enough so that Kairi could hear him.

Kairi opened up her notebook and began to write something.

'Heh heh...' he thought devilishly.

Operation: Distract Kairi was complete.

Sooner than not, a note was passed behind the table and into Riku's hand.

He opened it and it read _pay attention._

_To what?_ he wrote back with a smile on his face (even though he did feel a little bad for pulling Kairi's mind away from the class).

_The lesson, what else. This is the second time you've taken this class right? How many more times do you want to take it?_

Urk.

_I don't care. I'm only taking it so I can get a fine arts credit..._

Kairi sighed and shook her head as she read the note.

The reply Riku got was _You shouldn't go by doing things "just because". Even if you don't want to, you should give everything your all or it's just a waste of time, right?_

Riku paused before he wrote his response.

'Just a waste of time, huh...?'

_What about you?_

_Huh?_

_You know what I mean, don't "huh?" me. What about You and Yuffie? Are you wasting your time?_

Kairi was obviously uncomfortable as she read the note.

Sure, it was a bit much for Riku to back her into a corner like that.

But he wanted to, how should he say, think what Kairi was thinking.

_No...I don't necessarily want to go out with her. Well, I do, but that's not all. Going out with her would be nice and all, but as long as I still have her I'm fine. Whether she's my friend or my girlfriend, just having her around is fine enough for me._

Riku grinned widely as he read her response.

A conversation similar to this happened when he had asked Sora out.

Remembering what Sora said, he smiled even more.

_I don't think that the time when we liked each other but didn't do anything about it wasn't time wasted...as long as I had you around, what does it matter, right? And it's not like it was one-sided, so..._

_What do you like so much about her anyways? She's just loud and annoying..._

_Hey! Don't say that! She can be loud, yes...but she's also very considerate! Like when we go to Irvine's parties she avoids making me talk to him and she walked me home one time and..._

Kairi's list dragged on and on.

'Jeez!' Riku thought as he read the thing.

One comment in particular made him think.

_When I'm with her I don't feel lonely. I don't feel like I'm a burden, you know? With other people (don't worry, not you and Sora), especially my parents, I feel like they don't want me around. But with Yuffie...I can tell that I'm wanted to be there. It's kind of hard to explain. And whenever I see her it's like...you know that feeling you get when you check your progress report and see you're not failing any of your classes? It's like that. Heh heh, I'm rambling..._

_Yes, you are rambling. Do you think she likes you back? Sora was saying something about it when he was done "being sick" at the mall._

_Oh yeah, your birthday present. I saw them. Or it. whatever._

_That's what he was doing? What a liar. So what'd he get me?_

_Um…I'm not at liberty to say. And I'm certainly not at liberty to say how exactly he got them. It._

_You know we're going over to Irvine's on my birthday right?_

_Ew._

_Be quiet, it gives me an excuse to eat him out of house and home. And it gives you an excuse to hoard Yuffie. Speaking of Yuffie, what's going on? What happened? _

_Nice subject change. Well...she said that if she wasn't dating Rinoa she'd be dating me. But then later that night she told Rinoa she liked her more than me and I was just a little crush. But then this morning she walked me to school and was talking all funny...she knows I like her, I guess, it's pretty obvious._

_Aaah, yes...so I hear that you kissed her?_

_Kissed her? Which time?_

_Which time?!_

_No, it's not like we're making out constantly or anything! There was no tongue either time! Unlike you and Sora..._

_What? What was that?_

_Nothing, nothing... but anyways, she kissed me first. But then Friday night I was looking for a way to show her that I liked her, but instead of words coming out I kissed her._

_That's rather bold, Kairi._

_Yeah, that too! I've changed a lot since I met her, huh?_

Riku paused.

'She's right' he thought, thinking of how introverted Kairi used to be and how (almost) outgoing she was now.

_Yeah, you've changed. But for better or worse?_

_??_

_Ha ha, never mind. So anyways..._

Riku and Kairi continued their "conversation" and a response he got from Kairi stopped him.

_So...all these things make me know it's not wasted time. I know that I'm doing something good, even though sometimes I feel as if something bad is going to happen...but that's probably postpartum blues or something _(look up words like that if you don't know what they mean, Kairi!).

Riku's smile faded as he wrote his response.

_You may not think it's time wasted, but what does Yuffie think?_

When Kairi opened the note, she was to find that she had no answer to that question.

* * *

For about the fifth time that month, Yuffie was sitting cross-legged on Zell's bed, pouting as he played _Soul Kaliber._

The same exact thing had happened not even a week ago; it was as if she didn't learn her lesson the first three times she'd pushed Rinoa to the point of verbally attacking her.

'What a dumb girl…' Zell thought absentmindedly as he button-mashed, hoping his winning streak wouldn't be put off by her whining.

"I'm serious Zell! I think she's going to break up with me!"

"Rinoa's not gonna dump you, alright! Christ, shut up…"

"Zell!"

"AUGH, I'm dead! Dammit, Yuffie, go talk to her!"

"I can't! I have too much sinful pride to admit I'm wrong!"

'You just admitted you're wrong, you idiot…' Zell thought, ruffling his hair as she flopped onto her back, continuing her pout-fest. Really, he didn't know why she kept bothering to run to him whenever they fought – all that happened was that he yelled at her until she went back and apologized. 'It's not that hard of a concept…crap.'

"Really, though…she was really mad this time, Zell. What if she really does break up with me? What am I gonna do then?" Yuffie pondered, kicking her feet violently over the edge of the bed, seemingly not caring that Zell's head was there.

"You haven't even been together that long. Get over it and find a new one" he retorted, grabbing her feet and attempting to tickle them (he got kicked in the nose).

"But I really like her!"

Noise level rising.

"I don't want to find a new one; I want to keep the one I have!"

His parents were going to wonder what was going on if she kept rambling like she was…

"I really really like her. Or love h- Oh my God, did I just almost say that?"

And so Yuffie came to have a great epiphany while causing a ruckus on her best friend's bed. It was too annoying to be inspiring, and he ended up having to threaten kicking her out to get her to shut the hell up.

so many updates...im proud. my youtube profile's on a roll, though...


End file.
